Trio on trial in Dubai for importing more than 35 million banned pills



DUBAI // Three men are accused of importing 35 million pills containing the opiate diphenoxylate and 2.5 kilograms of tramadol, Dubai Criminal Court heard on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said that the drugs were found in a shipping container at Jebel Ali Port during a routine inspection.

The manager of the company that imported the pills said he had given “his company’s importing code and documents to a man to use for importing legal goods in return for Dh1,000”, customs inspector M S told prosecutors.

Police arrested an Iranian man, who ordered the container, and his countryman, who finalised its shipping and customs clearance procedures. The Bangladeshi manager was also arrested.

The three defendants, Bangladeshi M K, 51, and Iranians H S, 42, and J Z, 41, were charged with importing the drugs.

The Bangladeshi in court yesterday denied the charge. “I had no idea the two wanted to import banned substances when I allowed them to use my company’s name and licence,” he said.

The next hearing will be on January 17 to summon the other two defendants.

salamir@thenational.ae

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Key changes

Commission caps

For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:

• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term). 

• On the protection component, there is a cap  of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated. 

• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.

• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.

Disclosure

Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.

“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”

Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.

Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.

“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.

Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.

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