CAIRO // Deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak was flown out of prison yesterday by helicopter, freed after more than two years in jail, with no convictions against him.
Under a state of emergency declared by the military-backed government more than a week ago, Mr Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for more than three decades, will be placed under house arrest. The trials against him, including one of complicity in the killing of demonstrators against his rule in 2011, proceed.
Officials told Reuters that the ailing 85-year-old was flown to a military hospital in the upscale neighbourhood of Maadi.
A panel of judges conducting a hearing inside the prison on Wednesday had concluded that there was no longer any grounds to hold the former leader who millions of Egyptians poured into the streets to oust more than two years ago.
The prosecution did not appeal the decision.
Although the hearings to determine the release had been scheduled for weeks, the timing still resonated deeply with Egyptians, who have seen a deeply flawed, but democratically elected, Islamist government kicked out by the army on July 3. The resulting Islamist demonstrations were crushed, resulting in bloodshed of protesters and police, and outbreaks of sectarian violence nationwide.
The country is now ruled by a military-backed group of unelected officials.
But in a city shell-shocked by weeks of violence at levels never seen before in the capital, the news was greeted with muted anger by some and subdued happiness by others.
On the forlorn traffic island in the centre of Tahrir Square - which sizzled with fireworks and thronged with people in February 2011 when the world's eyes turned to it - only a few ragged tents remain.
Some of the people napping in them to escape the ferocious sun appeared to be homeless. Others recalled the heady feeling of power when they kicked out their president, but, chastened by the subsequent chaos, welcomed his release from jail.
"We did demonstrate against him," said Mohamed Al Sayed, 23, unemployed and with three children. "But after we found out the Muslim Brotherhood were worse, he's definitely the better option."
He even hopes that Mubarak will become president again. "He knows everything about Egypt," he said. "He knows the ins and outs."
His friend, Ahmed Al Sayed, was more ambivalent. "Personally when I saw Al Masry Al Youm newspaper this morning, with Mubarak on the front, looking happy and smiling, I felt disappointed and betrayed," he said.
Others were more forceful.
"The January 25 revolution's main goal was that he'd never come back to politics and never be in power again," said Adel Abu Shady, referring to the beginning of the tumultuous 2011 uprising.
"The feloul [old regime remnants] are playing with us, playing with our emotions - we can't let this happen so easily," said the 55-year-old hardware store owner.
Amid the shrinking number of Egyptians condemning both the old regime, the excesses of the Brotherhood-led rule that followed it and the military crackdown, activist Wael Abbas is bitterly disappointed at the prospect of Mr Mubarak being freed.
"I think it's now obvious what was intended from the beginning," he said. "What was intended from the military coup what was intended to please the businessmen who run this country and the military junta which is also a business institution."
He said that he had been expecting the release for some time. Four cases had been levelled against the one-time president, and the permitted period of detention without conviction had elapsed in each case.
He accused the judiciary of being deeply corrupt, and criticised the way in which the trials were carried out. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which has monitored the cases, said that security agencies destroyed evidence which would have been used in the trials.
"This is the end of the revolution," said Mr Abbas.
afordham@thenational.ae
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5. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s
6. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s
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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.”
