Britain loses bid to deport cleric Abu Qatada

The Home Office will continue its fight deport cleric, who is wanted in his native Jordan after being convicted of terrorism charges in 1999.

Reuters

March 27, 2013

LONDON // The British government today lost the latest round of its long-running legal battle to deport radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada, who is wanted in his native Jordan after having been convicted of terrorism charges in 1999.

Successive British governments have tried for years to get rid of the cleric, who has been in and out of jail since first being arrested in 2001.

Qatada's lawyers have foiled their attempts by claiming that he might not receive a fair re-trial in Jordan due to the use of evidence against him having been obtained using torture.

Abu Qatada won a last minute appeal against deportation last November and earlier this month was arrested and jailed again for breaching bail conditions prohibiting the use of mobile phones and other communications equipment in his house.

Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May's legal team have argued in court that he is a "truly dangerous" individual who has escaped expulsion only through errors of law.

But at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, three judges unanimously rejected the government's appeal against November's decision by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) to allow him to stay.

They said in their ruling: "The court recognises that (Abu Qatada) is regarded as a very dangerous person but emphasises that this is not a relevant consideration under the applicable Convention law.

"SIAC was entitled to conclude that there is a real risk that the impugned statements will be admitted in evidence at a retrial and that, in consequence, there is a real risk of a flagrant denial of justice."

The Home Office said it would continue its fight to get him deported.

"This is not the end of the road, and the government remains determined to deport Abu Qatada," it said in a statement.

"We will consider this judgment carefully and plan to seek leave to appeal. In the meantime we continue to work with the Jordanians to address the outstanding legal issues preventing deportation."

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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.”