Ousted prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif will face further graft hearings from jail after he was whisked to prison on his arrival back in the country, officials have said.
Sharif and his daughter Maryam were taken to prison in Rawalpindi on Friday night after they flew back from London to their electoral stronghold of Lahore.
The pair surrendered to officials of the National Accountability Bureau less than two weeks before polling in Pakistan's general election and as Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party appears to be losing ground to Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf.
Sharif and his daughter's return a week after being convicted by an anti-corruption court in their absence is widely seen as an electoral gamble to try to reinvigorate the PML-N's fortunes.
Both have said they will appeal their convictions, which saw Sharif handed 10 years in jail and Maryam, his likely political heir, sentenced to seven years while they were visiting Sharif's wife in a London hospital.
The ousted prime minister was found guilty of failing to disclose how his family came to buy expensive flats on London's Park Lane.
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He and his daughter have until Monday to appeal and apply for bail, but the Ministry of Law and Justice said Sharif will face further trial over holdings in Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investment. The anti-corruption court will sit in Rawalpindi's central jail, where he is being held, for security reasons.
Sharif and his daughter touched down in Lahore on Friday evening accompanied by an entourage of aides and reporters.
The pair were immediately arrested and ushered to a waiting jet which flew them to Islamabad from where they were transferred to the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
After being given medical checks, local media reports said the pair had been installed in special “b-class” accommodation reserved for prisoners whose “social status, education or habit of life have been accustomed to a superior mode of living”.
Facilities in the cells were reported to include a bed, chair, teapot and lamp, though prisoners can pay extra for a television, fridge and air conditioning.
Sharif's return came as one of the country's worst ever suicide bombings cast a shadow over the country's election campaign and raised fears of more violence ahead of polling.
Sunday has been declared a national day of mourning after three suicide blasts at elections events killed more than 150 last week.
The threat of further attacks led political parties to demand extra security after the carnage. Counter-terrorism officials last week said they believed there was a threat to several leaders of political parties.
Around 25,000 Sharif supporters rallied for his arrival in Lahore on Friday in a tense day of political protest despite a sweeping security crackdown.
PML-N leaders had called on supporters to turn out as a show of strength to mark Sharif's return.
But 36 hours before his arrival scores of party activists were arrested in an apparent move to handicap the protests.
Shipping container barricades were also placed across roads to the airport and mobile phone coverage was cut off in large parts of the city. Broadcasters were warned in advance about their reporting and a ban on protests was placed on the city.
Sharif had posted a video to supporters as he made his way to Pakistan via Abu Dhabi.
He had called on followers to stand with him and "change the fate of the country".
"The country is at a critical juncture right now," he said in the clip. "I have done what I could. I am aware that I have been sentenced to 10 years and I will be taken to a jail cell straight away — but I want the Pakistani nation to know that I am doing this for you."
Sharif has alleged the military is pushing a “judicial witch hunt” against him and his party. He has repeatedly clashed with military leaders in the past five years and was removed by a military coup in 1999 during a previous term as prime minister.
The PML-N had been seen as favourites for re-election until recently but have appeared to lose ground to Imran Khan. The cricketer-turned-politician campaigned for an investigation into Sharif's finances after the 2016 Panama Papers leak linked his family to offshore companies.
With Nawaz Sharif in prison and barred from standing, the PML-N is now being led by his younger brother Shahbaz.
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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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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
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