DUBAI // A policeman had sex with an absconding maid in return for not arresting her, but was arrested himself minutes later, the Criminal Court heard.
Emirati Y T, 38, was in court to face a charge of seeking and accepting a bribe, but the Filipino maid, J C, 33, did not appear to face a charge of offering a bribe.
Prosecutors said the police’s anti-corruption section received complaints about Y T, who works for traffic patrols, for targeting women and attempting to strike up relationships with them to have sex.
“We received complaints that he would stop women suspected of crimes and ask for their mobile numbers then call them to start a friendship and attempt to have sex with them. We had him under surveillance,” said Emirati lieutenant S H, 23.
On May 25 this year S H received a tip-off that the defendant was meeting a woman. They followed his car to the car park of a men’s college at 11pm.
“At 11.45pm his car was exiting so we stopped it. I went to talk to him. However, when I introduced myself he became tense and denied having anyone in the car. Then I noticed the sun shield covering a woman sitting behind the driver’s seat,” S H said.
S H questioned Y T and J C for being at the college at such a late hour and both confessed to having sex in the car park. “We then went to the spot where they had parked and had sex, and found evidence,” said S H. Both were arrested and Y T confessed to meeting J C while he was on duty.
“He said he asked her for ID and discovered she was an absconding maid, in the country illegally, so he asked for her mobile number then let her go. The next day she called him and they agreed to have sex in return for him not arresting her,” S H said.
Prosecutors said that Y T had confessed during investigations to asking for a sexual bribe from the maid in return for not arresting her and helping her to amend her residency status.
J C confessed to absconding from her sponsor in August last year to work as a cleaner. She said Y T stopped her in Silicon Oasis and asked for ID.
She said he first asked if she could clean his flat in return for letting her go, but then he showed interest in her and wanted to have sex.
“He picked me up in a car then switched cars and took me to a dark building’s car park where we had sex,” the maid said.
A police lieutenant testified that Y T had told him the maid had offered sex but he did not ask for it.
Indian A K, 32, also testified that he had met Y T a few days before May 25 when his car was stopped by the defendant. “He was questioning everything, even my work, then took my phone number and on May 25 he called me and asked that he take my car for a while and I take his convertible, so I said yes,” said A K, who had no idea Y T was using the car to have sex with a woman.
A forensic report confirmed that Y T and J C had had sex at the time of arrest.
The pair will be referred to the Dubai Court of Misdemeanors to face a charge of consensual sex. The next hearing will be on October 14 to summon J C.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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