26 May 2024 , 08:20
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A collaborative international investigation reveals how the United Arab Emirates facilitated foreign investment in real estate – without asking too many tough questions.
This loophole has been exploited by terrorist organizations, drug dealers, individuals subjected to international sanctions, and people close to President Putin. The list of investors in UAE real estate includes many Palestinians, who have bought properties valued at close to $900 million, as well as dozens of Israelis – most of whom also hold Russian citizenship.
An international investigation, relying on a leaked database of real estate ownership in the United Arab Emirates, reveals that approximately 1,000 Palestinians from the West Bank possess property in the country, collectively valued at around $500 billion. As of 2022, Palestinians own roughly 1,500 residential properties in the UAE, with an average value of approximately $330,000 per property. Further scrutiny of the data indicates that the average investment of each Palestinian individual in the UAE stands at around $500,000.
These figures do not include commercial properties and, according to real estate experts who examined the leaked information and other well-placed officials in the country, the overall value of Palestinian-owned property in the UAE could be as much as $900 million. It should be noted that, in some cases, the data could be skewed because of leased properties.
The leak also contains information about real estate holdings from 2020. A comparison of the data shows that the number of Palestinians who own private properties in the UAE has dropped slightly over that period, but that the average value of each asset has risen. Some of the Palestinians on the list are relatives of well-known business people and there are also relatives of politicians from the Fateh movement.
The 2022 list also indicated that around 30 Israeli citizens also own properties in the UAE. An analysis by Shomrim reveals that most of them are Russian nationals who also hold Israeli citizenship; some of them have had legal problems in the past and others are wanted by the authorities in Moscow. Another group of property owners in the UAE includes individuals with close ties to the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah.
The investigation, which has been dubbed Dubai Unlocked, is a leak of real estate data obtained by the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies NGO, which shared the information with the Norwegian economic newspaper E24 and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which in turn shared it with around 74 media outlets in 54 countries. Shomrim is the Israeli representative in the project.
Dubai’s financial district. Photo: Reuters
Hezbollah, Putin Cronies and Drug Dealers
The United Arab Emirates is considered a preferred location for foreign investment, in part because investors benefit from a low level of taxation. UAE authorities do not conduct in-depth investigations into the source of the finance for real estate investments and, if the investors are spending more than $545,000, they also get resident status. According to the investigation, as of 2022, the total amount of money invested by foreigners in the UAE real estate market was around $160 billion.
One of the more surprising discoveries to emerge from the leaked data is that, despite the complex relationship between the UAE and Hezbollah, a number of individuals associated with the Lebanese terror organization have purchased real estate in the country. One of the most prominent of them is Adham Husayn Tabaja, whom the U.S. State Department describes as Hezbollah’s financier. Tabaja is wanted by the United States, which has placed a $10 million bounty on him. Another Hezbollah-linked individual who owns property in the UAE is Mohammad Bazzi, a Lebanese-Belgian dual citizen against whom the United States imposed sanctions back in 2019. He was arrested last year in Romania and the American authorities have sought his extradition to face charges in the U.S.
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The wanted poster for senior Hezbollah operative Adham Husayn Tabaja
According to the findings of the investigation, the UAE’s tax policies have also allowed criminals, drug dealers and individuals against whom global sanctions have been imposed to buy property in the country. Indeed, the list of property owners in the UAE also includes more than 100 politicians and public officials from Russia, as well as businesspeople with close ties to President Vladimir Putin.
Another interesting character to appear on the list is Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of former Angolan dictator José Eduardo dos Santos. Although Isabel dos Santos is wanted by Interpol, has been accused of corruption and her assets frozen, she owns a luxurious residential property in the UAE. Another individual who owns property in the UAE is Daniel Kinahan, who has been accused by the United States and Ireland of running a violent drug cartel. Other individuals who own assets in the UAE include the people who spearheaded one of the largest cryptocurrency frauds ever uncovered in the United States.
Isabel Dos Santos, the daughter of the former Angolan dictator. Photo: Reuters
Dual-nationality Israelis, too
There are no Israelis on the 2020 list of property owners in the UAE, but the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries – which came about in late 2020 following the signing of the Abraham Accords – allowed Israeli nationals to purchase property in the country, to register it under their own names and even to list their nationality as Israeli. What stands out on the list of 30 Israelis is the considerable proportion of Russian immigrants among them – and the fact that some of them were embroiled in legal troubles in their country of origin. One of the more surprising names to appear on the list is that of Viktor Khoroshavtsev, a former senator and the representative of the Udmurt Republic in the Russian Federation Council. Khoroshavtsev was a member of the same party as Putin and his name was linked to corruption scandals some 20 years ago. He is now CEO of the Aspek Group, one of the largest holding companies in the Udmurt Republic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Reuters
Another Israeli-Russian dual citizen listed as an asset-holder in the UAE is Aharon Meir Ben-Haim, who is known in Russia as Andrey Shandalov who, along with his father, owned the Optima Group – one of the largest holding companies in Russia. In March 2023, Russian authorities announced that Shandalov and his father were wanted on suspicion of tax evasion and fraud to the tune of $35 million.
Another name on the list is that of Timur Rodionov, a Russian businessman who operates in Ukraine – which added him to its list of sanctioned individuals.
Dubai, with the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in the center. Photo: Reuters
UAE in response: Committed to efforts to counter money laundering
The UAE embassy in the United Kingdom submitted the following response to the findings of the investigation. “The UAE takes its role in protecting the integrity of the global financial system extremely seriously. In February, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard-setter for measures to fight money laundering, praised the UAE’s significant progress. In its continuing pursuit of global criminals, the UAE works closely with international partners to disrupt and deter all forms of illicit finance. The UAE is committed to continuing these efforts and actions more than ever today and over the longer term.”