A teenager who abducted a boy, undressed him while he filmed him, then molested him and posted the video on Instagram will be under judicial supervision for a year.
On April 21 last year, a 13-year-old boy and 19-year-old man abducted the Emirati pupil, 11, while he was walking home in Hatta and took him to the man's house.
The pupil said the two Emiratis forced him to take his clothes off and abused him while they filmed him on the 19-year-old's mobile phone, who then posted the video on social media.
"They threatened to rape me and rape my friend who was walking with me when I was taken by the two, my friend was standing a side and saw everything," said the boy.
The boy's mother said she found out what happened after walking in on her son watching the video on his phone.
"I saw the clip and asked him what happened, he told me how they forced him into a house and stripped him naked then abused him," said the 33-year-old mother, who reported the matter to police.
A police officer said the pupil was restrained by one of the defendants while the other took his clothes off against his will.
Police arrested the 19-year-old the same day.
"I questioned him but he denied everything. Then I checked his phone and saw the clip posted on his Instagram account," said the Emirati officer, 34.
The younger defendant told officers the victim walked into the house willingly.
At Dubai Criminal Court, the unemployed 19-year-old was charged with sexual assault and abusing telecommunication laws by posting a video containing child pornography. He denied the charges and awaits his verdict.
The 13-year-old was faced with the same charges at Dubai Juvenile Court which he denied but was found guilty and sentenced to judicial supervision. He will also undergo rehabilitation courses after which a report will be submitted to the Juvenile Court.
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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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