LONDON // Police investigating alleged sexual abuse of young girls by the former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile said yesterday that they were pursuing more than 400 lines of inquiry involving about 300 victims.
The leader of the inquiry, Commander Peter Spindler of Scotland Yard, said that all bar two of the potential victims were women and that the vast majority of alleged offences involved Savile, who died last year.
"It's quite staggering," he said.
Police had spoken to 130 victims to date and recorded 114 reports of sexual assault, mostly against Savile. No arrests have been made so far.
Mr Spindler did not say who else might have been involved but lawyers representing some of the victims, several of whom were as young as eight when the abuse occurred, said their clients had indicated a paedophile ring involving other celebrities had existed at the BBC during the height of Savile's fame in the 1970s and 80s.
"There's Savile on his own, and that's the vast majority of what we're being told about, there's Savile and others - and it's the others, if they're living, we can look at," he said.
The BBC has been thrown into disarray by accusations it helped cover up sexual abuse by Savile, and has struggled to explain why one of its own shows killed an investigation into it. At this stage there was no evidence of an organised paedophile ring, Mr Spindler added.
Known for his distinctive platinum hair, shiny tracksuits and ever-present cigar, Savile was one of Britain's top broadcasters and presented a string of programmes that brought him into contact with children.
He also earned millions of pounds for various charities.
But the abuse allegations that emerged since his death in October last year have destroyed his reputation.
The BBC has launched two inquiries into the scandal.
Earlier yesterday, UK newspapers reported that police investigating the Savile case had been passed the names of three doctors accused of sexually abusing children.
The doctors worked at hospitals where Savile is also alleged to have molested young and vulnerable patients while carrying out charity work, the Guardian and the Daily Mail newspapers reported.
The BBC Trust chairman yesterday defended George Entwistle, the director general of the BBC, who appeared before the British parliament this week to answer questions over the Savile saga.
Mr Entwistle has only been in the position since September 17.
"It was a very, very difficult initial baptism of fire ... This broke over him, this great tsunami of filth, broke over him 11 days into the job," Chris Patten said.
* Reuters with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press
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The flights
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The tours
English-speaking guided tours of Ohrid town and the surrounding area are organised by Cultura 365; these cost €90 (Dh386) for a one-day trip including driver and guide and €100 a day (Dh429) for two people.
The hotels
Villa St Sofija in the old town of Ohrid, twin room from $54 (Dh198) a night.
St Naum Monastery, on the lake 30km south of Ohrid town, has updated its pilgrims' quarters into a modern 3-star hotel, with rooms overlooking the monastery courtyard and lake. Double room from $60 (Dh 220) a night.
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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.”