DUBAI ( Web News )
A just-released report on Tuesday (May 14), has exposed how Dubai’s real estate market is used to stash ill-gotten money from around the world. The report, titled ‘How Dirty Money Finds a Home in Dubai Real Estate,’ was put together by journalists from 74 different organisations in 58 countries after an investigation spanning for over six months and takes into account real estate assets up to the spring of 2022.
Pakistani individuals are also among those identified, with their combined property holdings estimated to be worth $11 billion. The investigative report shows that 17,000 Pakistanis own 23,000 properties in Dubai, almost 2.5 percent of the total $389 billion worth of properties.
Highlighted among the Pakistanis identified in the Property Leaks are the three children of President Asif Ali Zardari, Hussain Nawaz Sharif, the spouse of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Sharjeel Memon, along with his family members, Senator Faisal Vawda, four Members of the National Assembly (MNAs), and around half a dozen Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) from Sindh and Balochistan. PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat and Farah Gogi too own properties in Dubai.
Additionally, the list features late Gen Pervez Musharraf, former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, over a dozen retired generals, a police chief, an ambassador, and a scientist. All of these individuals were found to possess properties either directly or through their spouses and children.
Indians top the the list as 29,700 Indians have 35,000 properties in Dubai and their total worth is $17 billion. Commercial and residential properties bought in the name of companies are not included in this list.
Named ‘Dubai Unlocked’, the project draws upon extensive data detailing hundreds of thousands of properties in Dubai, along with information on their ownership or utilization. The dataset primarily covers the years 2020 and 2022, excluding properties registered under corporate entities and those situated in commercial zones from the analysis.
The data was acquired by the Centre for Advanced Defence Studies (C4ADS), a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. Subsequently, it was shared with Norwegian financial publication E24 and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which led a comprehensive six-month investigation involving journalists from 74 media outlets across 58 nations.
This extensive inquiry revealed numerous individuals with criminal convictions, fugitives, and prominent political figures who have recently possessed real estate in Dubai. Pakistani news outlets The News International and Dawn were among the partners in this investigation.