NEWS FROM THE UAE
Source : THE NATIONAL/GULFTODAY
Task force targets corruption
Dubai - Sep. 24: Dubai has created a task force to investigate the multibillion-dirham corruption scandal in the emirate’s financial institutions, and more arrests could be made, a senior police officer said yesterday.
“We are the first country in the Gulf and the Middle East to have carried out these types of operations,” said Major Gen Khamis Mattar al Mazina, deputy commander-in-chief of Dubai Police.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, ordered the Dubai Public Prosecution office to establish a specialist unit to investigate fraud in several government-backed companies, Major Gen Mazina said. He would not reveal how many police officers were assigned to the team.
The investigations are being run by Dubai Public Prosecution to keep any pending arrests secret, he said.
“We only carry out the arrests after we get the orders from the Public Prosecution. They investigate.”
The task force has ample resources to deter, investigate and arrest company chiefs found to have a hand in financial irregularities, a spokesman for Public Prosecution said.
Major Gen Mazina said money laundering, embezzlement and other forms of fraud happened in all Middle Eastern countries, but Dubai was the first to combat it because of the “vision of Sheikh Mohammed”.
The Public Prosecution said the team would be disbanded when the corruption investigations were completed, but did not say how long they would take.
The financial sector is also facing more scrutiny following the appointment last week of a Dutch regulator, Paul Koster, as chief executive of the Dubai Financial Services Authority.
Mr Koster, who has experience fighting fraud, had been commissioner and executive board member at the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets since 2001.
Seven senior executives have been detained since Zack Shahin, the former chief executive of the property developer Deyaar, was jailed over allegations of “financial mishandling” in March.
Abdullah Nasser Abdullah, Tamweel’s deputy chief executive, was detained by Dubai Police this month after a six-month investigation into fraud in the company’s property and finance sectors.
No criminal charges were filed, but some of those arrested had their passports confiscated and were ordered to remain in the country until investigations were completed.
Last week, Istithmar World suspended two executives, Adel al Shirawi, the vice chairman, and Feras Kalthoum, the chief financial officer. The company said the suspensions were in connection with investigations into the men’s activities while working for another company.
Mr Shirawi was also suspended from the board of Istithmar.
Many of the companies implicated in the inquiry have crossed shareholdings. Istithmar World, which has a private equity and alternative investments division along with departments dedicated to ventures in aviation and start-ups, is the largest shareholder in Tamweel, with a 22 per cent stake.
Dubai Islamic Bank, two former senior executives of which were arrested in the inquiry, owns a 20 per cent stake in Tamweel and is the largest shareholder in Deyaar.
Tamweel said this month that it was co-operating with the inquiry.
Sama Dubai, a property concern with four executives detained in the investigation, is part of Dubai Holding, a private company owned by Sheikh Mohammed.
Dubai Islamic Bank last week seized the land assets of Plantation Holdings, a development company with a plot intended for a polo resort in the proposed US$40 billion (Dh147bn) Dubailand zone.
The owner of Plantation, Arthur Fitzwilliam, has also been arrested. The bank said the seizure was to recover debt in default. Plantation said the action was illegal.
Deyaar has entered talks with its parent company to take over the Plantation project, the value of which has been estimated at Dh2.5bn, company officials said recently.
Nakheel, the state-controlled developer of the Palm Islands, has confirmed that one present and one former employee have been questioned as part of a fraud investigation.
THE NATIONAL
Seat belt campaign tackles child deaths
ABU DHABI - Sep. 24: A leading doctor yesterday called on parents to end the “epidemic” of injuries and deaths among youngsters by ensuring their children wear seat belts or use baby seats when travelling in cars.
Parents are putting their children’s lives at risk on a daily basis, he said, by letting them sit unrestrained on their laps.
“We see the tragedy day after day,” said Dr Taiseer Atrak, chairman of paediatrics at Abu Dhabi’s Mafraq Hospital. “We see so many infants and children thrown out of cars because they have not worn seat belts or been in child seats.”
A lack of statistics means the true extent of the problem is unknown. But he added: “From my experience, the number of children dying in accidents must be double that in countries such as the US and Britain.”
Dr Atrak’s plea to parents was backed by police and traffic experts across the country and came as his hospital launched a Kids in Safety Seats campaign. Mafraq Hospital has also been distributing free car seats to the families of newborn babies since July.
Road deaths are the second biggest killer in the emirate of Abu Dhabi after heart disease.
The Health Authority Abu Dhabi says it remains one of its most challenging areas.
Dr Atrak would like to see the laws strengthened and for parents to understand that they are endangering their children’s lives if they do not use seat belts or car seats.
“It is such an unnecessary problem which is very easy to solve. People do not think it will happen to them so continue to carry their children on their knees when they are travelling in a car. Unfortunately, as paediatricians we see the tragedies all the time.”
Under UAE law, it is compulsory for drivers to wear seat belts and illegal for children under 10 to sit in the front seat of a car. But there is no legislation governing the use of child car seats. Countries such as Britain make it a legal requirement for child car seats to be used.
It is not uncommon, however, to see young children or babies sitting in the laps of the person in the front passenger seat.
Last year in the emirate, there were 2,046 recorded car crashes causing injury, of which 64 per cent were in Abu Dhabi, 20 per cent in Al Ain and 15 per cent in Al Gharbia.
Dr Steven Liggins, a surgeon at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi, who specialises in rebuilding faces, said children being injured, often fatally, was an “epidemic in the UAE”.
Dr Liggins deals with lots of young patients who need surgery to correct injuries to the head, neck, face and jaws. “It is gruelling to see badly injured children,” he said. “The injuries can be horrendous.”
Col Hamad al Shamsi, the manager of traffic and patrols department at Abu Dhabi Police, said they were aware that many children suffered injuries due to a lack of safety precautions by parents.
“The number of injuries caused by not using safety seats is a lot, especially cases directly transferred to hospitals,” he said. There were probably many more cases of which the police were unaware, he added.
“Sometimes the child gets injured because of not being put in a seat belt, even if the car was not involved in an accident. In this case the parent takes the child directly to the hospital without going to the police.”
In May, Abu Dhabi and Dubai police both launched initiatives to reward good driving with cash prizes. Parents spotted using child car seats in the back of their vehicles qualified for an award.
Capt Ahmed al Niyadi, the traffic department’s head of media and public relations, said he was aware that most parents did not use child seats. “I hope this campaign will influence society to change their perspective about safety seats and start using them constantly. We have a section in our society who do not use safety precautions.”
While there are no comprehensive statistics available on the number of children killed or injured in car accidents, it is widely accepted that the lack of road safety measures is a real problem.
Child safety seats installed correctly reduce the risk of deadly injuries by 71 per cent for infants and 54 per cent for toddlers, according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Leaflets being given to parents as part of the Mafraq Hospital campaign, which is being managed by Bumrungrad International, say belt-positioning booster seats reduce the risk of injuries by 59 per cent for children.
Dr Mohammed el Sadig, of the UAE University’s roadway transportation and traffic safety research centre, said the attitude in the UAE towards child safety in cars was far too relaxed. He praised the campaign as being a step in the right direction.
“This is a very good move because we have an ongoing tragedy caused by parents travelling with children without seat belts or any way of restraining them,” he said. “People do not bother that much to comply with the legislation.”
He recalled a crash in Al Ain in which five children were killed after the car they were travelling in collided with another vehicle.
“This is just one of hundreds of cases going on all around the UAE, something needs to be done and this campaign is a good step.”
Dr Sadig said the size of the average UAE family added to the problem. When a family has more than four children there is not enough room in the average family vehicle to restrain them all properly, he explained.
Parents failed to realise that airbags can do more harm than good if they are only protection against injury, he added.
“The airbags are part of a safety system. They have to be used together with belts or proper child seats. If they are not used with these, they can cause more injuries than they prevent.
“We need to start conditioning our children to start wearing belts. Parents need to understand that it is for their child’s safety and will not do them any harm.”
UAE keeps pace with space
DUBAI - SEP. 24: DUBAISAT 1, UAE's first remote sensing/Earth Observation satellite, is all set to be launched, the Emirates Institute for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) has announced.
EIAST has made a giant leap in terms of progress by announcing that epoch-making event.
The UAE's first earth observation satellite has been developed by SatrecI in South Korea with in depth participation of UAE engineers from the EIAST and is "space ready" according to an official in Dubai.
DubaiSat-1 will provide the UAE with its first dedicated eye in the sky, and now awaits its launch later this year onboard a Russian rocket through the Moscow-based International Space Company (ISC) Kosmotras.
Designed and developed by a dedicated team and built in collaboration with international entities, DubaiSat 1 will be one of the most advanced small size satellite of its kind when it is launched at the end of this year. Besides the satellite itself, the UAE team, which participated in the development of the satellite was the highlight of the project, according to Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General of EIAST.
"Developing a core team of UAE scientists and experts was the most definitive outcome of a strategy that is geared to support mature, knowledge based development. Developing a base of UAE scientists and engineers is a crucial first step in becoming a regional and global leader in the fields of advanced science and technology," Mansoori said.
DUBAISAT - 2
While DubaiSat-1 awaits its year-end launch into space, its development team is already working on finalising designs for DubaiSat-2, and will continue with its plans to create the UAE's first constellation of satellites. The design concept of DubaiSat-2 is being laid down and strategic partners for its construction are being selected.
The new satellite is also designed to be the top of its class by the time of its planned launch in 2012.
This achievement is just a stepping stone in the many plans EIAST has for the future including work in Nano-Technology, Alternative Energy and Astronomy. Established by a Dubai Government decree in 2006 to facilitate the country's move to develop a knowledge-based economy, EIAST continues to be a springboard for promoting sustainable development and enhancing economic growth in the Emirates and beyond by inspiring scientific innovation and fostering technological advancement.
The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) is a strategic initiative of Dubai's government aiming at inspiring scientific innovation and fostering technological advancement within UAE and the region.
It has in its purview a key role in promoting effective means of using highly sophisticated technologies and accurate spatial information for a variety of applications that enhance sustainable development and support the fast economical and industrial growth in Dubai and UAE.
GULF TODAY
Winter case suspect denies threatening to kill a witness
DUBAI - SEP 24: The British suspect in Kerry Winter’s disappearance appeared in court unshaven and dishevelled yesterday to face a related charge of threatening to kill a witness who claims to have seen him beat the missing woman with a baseball bat.
Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and standing in the dock with his hands behind his back, the 42-year-old Briton, identified as MA, pleaded not guilty to issuing threats and endangering life by raising a baseball bat over the head of ZK, a Lebanese neighbour of Ms Winter who tried to come to her aid.
Asked by the judge in the Dubai Misdemeanours Court if he raised a baseball bat over ZK’s head intending to kill him, MA replied: “I did raise the baseball bat over his head but I had no intention of killing him.”
He made no further statements during the five-minute preliminary hearing. The case was adjourned until Oct 7 to allow time for the defence to call witnesses and prepare its case. After the court was adjourned, MA was taken back to his holding cell.
Ms Winter, a South African who worked as an events co-ordinator in Dubai, has not been seen since witnesses saw the defendant allegedly beat her savagely and drag her bleeding into her own car on Aug 20. ZK was among those who said he saw him hit Ms Winter with a baseball bat on the head outside her rented villa in Al Barsha.
MA has admitted to beating her but said he did not intend to kill her.
He said after he was arrested that he dropped her off at the Arabian Ranches roundabout on Emirates Road, but police found no sign of her there. He then told prosecutors he dumped her body in the sea, but did not say exactly where.
He was arrested at Dubai International Airport on Aug 26 when he returned from a brief trip to the UK and has been held on preliminary charges of assault and kidnapping while police search for Ms Winter or her body before issuing formal charges.
The senior public prosecutor, Ahmad Eisa al Adhab, has said he would wait for forensics reports from Dubai Police CID before filing formal charges. He added that he planned to interview several more witnesses, and might interview MA again if new evidence turned up.
The forensic reports include DNA tests on blood samples from the scene and physical evidence from Ms Winter’s car and MA’s residence and boat, which has been impounded by police.
Police have said people who saw the attack tried to help, but MA attacked them and scared them away.
Mr Adhab said the prosecution would decide when to stop looking for Ms Winter’s body and refer the suspect to court only at the end of its investigation. The case would be built solely on physical evidence and witness testimony and the charge filed would be one the evidence supported, he said.
He said the suspect could face anything from a charge of manslaughter to assault leading to death, but the court would be free to amend the charges. “They could either reduce the charges or increase them, it is up to the court,” Mr Adhab said.
He added that it would be difficult to prove a premeditated murder charge without a body. “Finding a body will help determine the severity of the injuries and how the victim was killed, if it was a violent death or not.”
However, Mr Adhab was confident that if MA had dumped Ms Winter’s body at sea it would surface, even if it was tied securely and weighted down. “We do have a problem with the suspect’s contradictory stories about how he got rid of Winter’s body.
First he told CID he dumped her in the desert, near Marmoum. We searched and found nothing there; now he’s saying he dumped the body at sea but did not specify where exactly,” Mr Adhab said.
THE NATIONAL