Man 'filmed colleague while she showered because he couldn't sleep'



A man filmed his colleague through the bathroom’s ventilation window while she showered, Dubai Criminal Court heard on Tuesday.

The Filipina, 28, said she was taking a shower at around 12.30am on October 10 when she noticed a light through the small ventilation window in the bathroom.

The employees of the company where the woman works live in the same building and the woman’s bathroom is located opposite the flat where other employees live, she said.

“When I checked the source of the light, I saw a mobile and realised a co-worker was filming me naked under the shower,” she told the court.

“I screamed and called for flatmates, then the mobile disappeared,” said the woman, who works at a call centre for a pharmacy chain.

She said she got dressed and went over to the neighbouring flat with her flatmates and the defendant opened the door.

"One of my flatmates asked him if he had filmed me in the shower but he kept silent so I called the supervisor then the police," she said.
The woman told prosecutors that she has been traumatised by the incident and checks windows and keyholes whenever she is home alone or in the bathroom.
"I wouldn't want this to happen again and I was so scared that he would post the clip or share it with others," she said.
The woman's supervisor reported the incident to the administration which sent a senior official to the building to investigate the incident with all seven residents of the neighbouring flat.
"They all denied it, including the defendant. I then seized their mobiles to check for the recording," said the Indian administration official.

He said the defendant eventually admitted to recording the video because he was unable to sleep.

"He said he deleted all three clips he made of the woman the moment she screamed," the man said.
During police questioning, the 21-year-old Indian denied charges of sexual assault and violating the privacy of others.

He also denied the charges in court on Tuesday.
His verdict will be issued on December 26.

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.”

The results of the first round are as follows:

Qais Saied (Independent): 18.4 per cent

Nabil Karoui (Qalb Tounes): 15.58 per cent

Abdelfattah Mourou (Ennahdha party): 12.88 per cent

Abdelkarim Zbidi (two-time defence minister backed by Nidaa Tounes party): 10.7 per cent

Youssef Chahed (former prime minister, leader of Long Live Tunisia): 7.3 per cent

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