A six-month investigation, led by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Norwegian outlet E24, uncovered scores of convicted criminals, fugitives, political figures, and sanctioned individuals who have recently owned real estate in Dubai.
The OCCRP report titled “Dubai Unlocked” shows 398 Bangladeshi nationals owning 641 properties in Dubai, with the total value of their real estate exceeding $225 million. The OCCRP however did not provide any further details regarding their identities.
According to the leak of 2022 data assessed by economists and reporters from 74 partners in 58 countries, the number of residential properties owned by foreigners put Indians first, at 35,000 properties and 29,700 owners.
The total value of these properties is estimated at $17 billion that same year.
Owners with Pakistani nationality come second among foreigners at 17,000 owners of 23,000 residential properties.
UK citizens in the 2022 sample own 22,000 residential properties and 19,500 owners, valued at $10 billion, whereas Saudi nationals are listed with 16,000 properties and 8,500 owners, valued at $8.5 billion, reports Dawn.
It should be noted that a mere mention in the data is not evidence in itself of financial crime or tax fraud. Nor does the data contain information such as residence status, sources of income, tax declarations of rental income or capital gains.
Dubai’s international appeal
Down the coast at the Grandeur Residences, a building on Dubai’s palm-shaped artificial archipelago, is a unit belonging to Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers, a 32-year-old also known as ‘Chubby Jos’ who is on the European Union’s Most Wanted List for alleged narcotics trafficking.
And in the nearby Palm Tower Dubai, sits a flat owned by Danilo Vunjao Santana Gouveia, a Brazilian businessman who goes by Dubaiano.
Indicted on charges of money laundering and fraud for allegedly running a massive Bitcoin pyramid scheme in his home country, he has since taken up a career as a musician in Dubai, which he details on an Instagram account alongside photographs of him posing in front of various locations in the city, including the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab Jumeirah skyscraper.
These and numerous other property owners verified by OCCRP and its partners should have immediately raised red flags under any basic risk assessment. Yet none of the individuals were apparently prevented from buying properties in their own names.
Reporters used the data as a starting point to explore the landscape of foreign property ownership in Dubai.
They spent months verifying the identities of the people who appeared in the leaked data, as well as confirming their ownership status, using official records, open-source research, and other leaked datasets.
From Australian cocaine traffickers to the relatives of West African dictators and a coterie of sanctioned Hezbollah financiers, the findings reveal how the city has opened its arms to unscrupulous characters from around the globe.
Today, Dubai is a global financial hub that boasts one of the world’s most recognisable skylines — a futuristic steel jungle where business leaders ink billions of dollars in deals, influencers model an existence draped in luxury, and Tom Cruise scales the world’s tallest building for a blockbuster film franchise.
The Gulf city is far from the only place where criminals and others have successfully stashed their wealth in luxury properties. New York City and London real estate have also been known to attract dirty money.
But experts say Dubai has a lot to offer, and not just in terms of its vast array of high-end skyscrapers and villas. One pull factor, experts say, has been the emirate’s inconsistent responses to requests from foreign authorities for help arresting and extraditing fugitives.
Until recently, the UAE lacked extradition treaties with many countries, helping turn Dubai into a magnet for fugitives from around the globe.
While UAE authorities have increased cooperation with foreign law enforcement in recent years, the government is still known for inconsistent responses to extradition requests.
