Quote from Timothy Fitzpatrick on May 20, 2022, 20:45

Opening of Dubai: data leak found real estate of criminals, officials and politicians under sanctions in the emirate

Source: OCCRP

May 20, 2022 Anno Domini

Mesmerizing skyscrapers, lavish living and sunny beaches are what make Dubai, a Middle Eastern financial hub that has been dubbed the playground of the rich.

However, the elite emirate has also earned a reputation as a "tax haven" where illegal funds are withdrawn and a popular center for money laundering, often through real estate.

Leaked data on Dubai property owners reveals how many foreigners have invested in local apartments and villas.

Relevant for 2020, the information came to the disposal of the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS - The Center for Advanced Defense Studies), a Washington-based non-profit organization that investigates international crimes and conflicts. The organization shared the data with the Norwegian financial publication E24, which coordinated the project.

From this leak, the public got details about the individuals who bought property in this major financial center. At the initial stage of the project, journalists studied the European names on the list.

Many of these people live in the emirate legally or have invested in real estate legally. However, journalists identified in the list of owners of Dubai real estate defendants in criminal cases and persons under international sanctions. They also found in the leak government officials whose ownership of expensive real estate does not match their official income.

Real estate in Dubai is owned by more than a hundred Russians - representatives of the Russian political elite, officials and businessmen close to the Kremlin, as well as dozens of Europeans involved in money laundering and corruption . The list also includes several European officials and lawmakers who are accused of embezzling public funds - some of them did not declare Dubai property.

Panorama of Dubai

Among those of particular interest on the list are Ruslan Baisarov , a Russian businessman close to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, and Aleksandr Borodai , a sanctioned member of the State Duma who became the "prime minister" of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

Owns real estate in Dubai and a member of the Communist Party Roman Lyabikhov , against whom US sanctions have been imposed, and Dmitry Rybolovlev , an oligarch with a scandalous reputation.

Among Europeans, Daniel Kinahan , the alleged leader of an Irish gang involved in cocaine trafficking and other crimes, is of particular interest . In April, the US government imposed sanctions on Kanahan. It is known that he is in Dubai.

The leak also revealed Czech citizen Tibor Bokor , the executive director of a cryptocurrency exchange that was sanctioned by the US Treasury last year for helping criminals who make money through ransomware. Another alleged perpetrator on the list of Dubai property owners is Slovak Miroslav Vyboch , who is internationally wanted on corruption charges . According to some reports, he is hiding in the emirate.

Baisarov, Borodai, Bokor and Lyabikhov did not respond to requests for comment. Vyboch's lawyer confirmed that his client owns an apartment in Dubai.

The presence of these individuals on Dubai's real estate market registries highlights the riskiness of the emirate's loose residency requirements and lax checks on funds before property purchase transactions. They allow you to launder money in the emirate through real estate or simply store dubious income.

“When it comes to money laundering, the real estate industry is unique: in this case, through money laundering, you have a place to live and work, ” says Jody Vittori, a professor at Georgetown University and an expert on illegal financial activities.

According to the Tax Justice Network, Dubai is one of the most secretive offshore jurisdictions in the world, largely due to a lack of financial transparency.

Experts believe that the United Arab Emirates, including Dubai, are among the top ten in the manipulation of corporate taxes and the level of financial secrecy.

“When it comes to regulation of finance and trade, as well as financial crime by foreigners, Dubai has a ‘see nothing, hear nothing’ approach,” says a 2020 Tax Justice Network report. “The emirate attracts large financial flows and very influential criminals from all over the world.”

Exhibition of luxury cars in Dubai Mall - the largest shopping center in the world

The UAE also does not have an extradition treaty with the European Union and the United States. In practice, this means that suspects can hide in Dubai to avoid justice.

Representatives from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dubai Land Department (DLD) did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. However, the UAE Embassy in Oslo commented for E24, OCCRP and other media partners of the project.

“The statements made regarding property ownership records in Dubai are factually inaccurate. The UAE has a clear regulatory framework that is in line with international laws and standards aimed at combating financial crime, the embassy said. “Compliance with these regulations is the cornerstone of the procedures and activities of the Dubai Land Department.”

blind spot

Dubai is a sheikhdom with internal autonomy that is part of the UAE. The emirate's economy is based on providing homes to expatriates.

In the 1990s, Dubai's oil revenues fell sharply, and the emirate's leadership decided to attract foreign funds. New opportunities were found in real estate: many residential complexes were built in the emirate, the tallest building in the world and two peninsulas in the form of palm trees. (One of them was never completed due to the financial crisis of 2008, when many construction projects were frozen due to a lack of loans.)

Since then, the real estate industry has been an important source of income for the emirate, attracting foreign capital and wealthy people from all over the world. Three million people live in Dubai, but only half a million of them are UAE citizens.

Property leaks include 800,000 properties in Dubai owned by 274,000 individuals and companies from around the world. This shows that on average in Dubai, one property owner has more than three properties.

“Until now, no one had such information about the entire real estate market in such a well-known tax haven ,” says Annette Alstadseter , head of the Skatteforsk tax research center and professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences .

Alstadseter leads an international team of scientists who are also investigating the leaked files and published their material at the same time as this investigation .

Based on public property price information, the researchers estimate that foreign individuals and companies have invested more than $145 billion in the Dubai real estate market. For comparison: the value of foreign property in London in 2019 was estimated at $66 billion .

Individuals and companies linked to Europe and Russia own more than $31 billion worth of real estate in Dubai.

Not all of the properties in the leak are privately owned. Many properties are owned by offshore companies registered in other tax havens. Because of this, the identity of the true beneficiaries is often unknown.

“For the first time, we have data on the value of real estate purchased in the tax haven by both foreigners and local residents ,” says UC Berkeley associate professor Gabriel Zucman .

Zucman is one of the world's leading experts on tax havens. He leads the EU Tax Watch Group at the Paris School of Economics and is closely following the investigation into theDubai leak.

“Until recently, we did not have specific numbers and could not estimate the hidden wealth, but this leak has changed everything. This project is the first step in shedding light on the rise of real estate investment in tax havens as part of a broader globalization. Previously, this has not been studied much due to the lack of data, ” Zucman says.

The cost of Dubai real estate

The price of the property in this article was calculated by researchers at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. They calculated the net worth of each leaked property for 2020 using publicly available anonymous transaction data in Dubai, taking into account the location and area of ​​the property.

Prices have increased significantly since 2020. It is likely that the market value of the villas and apartments from the leak is higher than indicated in our investigation .

Moscow in the Persian Gulf

Last year, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's team released valuable data on Russian property in Dubai.

In December , the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) released an investigation into Russian MP Alexander Boroday , who bought a 104-square-meter apartment in the luxurious Grandeur Residences-Maurya complex on Palm Jumeirah, an artificial peninsula shaped like a palm tree.

Borodai purchased an apartment worth over $400,000 in 2015, just as he was becoming a prominent figure in Russian politics .

In early 2014, he assumed the post of "Prime Minister" of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a self-proclaimed and internationally unrecognized pro-Russian entity in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. He held this position for about four months, and then gave it to a resident of Donetsk, becoming his deputy.

Alexander Borodai at a press conference in Donetsk on June 21, 2014

After that, he returned to Russia, and in 2021 he was elected to the State Duma as part of the ruling United Russia party. He did not list the Dubai apartment on the mandatory property declaration.

Information from a leak obtained by C4ADS matches that of Navalny's team and confirms that the apartment belongs to Boroday, who is under US, EU, UK, Swiss, Canadian and Australian sanctions.

According to the leak, more than 5,300 citizens and individuals associated with the Russian Federation own over 9,700 properties in the emirate, making Russians one of the largest groups of foreign investors in Dubai real estate.

Most of them are little-known faces, but there are also politicians on the list , such as Borodai, government officials and oligarchs .
Another State Duma deputy, Roman Lyabikhov , is also listed as the owner of real estate in Dubai. According to the leak, he owns a 109 square meter apartment in the Amwaj 4 complex located in Dubai Marina. It costs about 430 thousand dollars. Like his colleague, Lyabikhov did not indicate the property in the property declaration.

It is under US, UK, EU and Canadian sanctions.

According to the leak, Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev owns a villa on the Al-Hisab branch of the Palm Jumeirah Peninsula. Its estimated cost is $3.5 million.

Palm Jumeirah

Unlike some other oligarchs , Rybolovlev keeps aloof from Russian politics . According to some reports, he has been living in Europe since 2010, when he was forced to sell a controlling stake in the Russian mineral fertilizer producer Uralkali to three Russian businessmen with connections in the Kremlin.

Rybolovlev, a citizen of Cyprus, is also the main shareholder and president of AS Monaco football club. In 2018, a judge in Monaco named the Russian oligarch a suspect in a corruption investigation : according to some reports, with the help of gifts and tickets to matches, Rybolovlev tried to influence local law enforcement officers in a conflict with an art dealer.

This was not the first scandal involving Rybolovlev. In 2008, he bought a $95 million mansion in Palm Beach, Florida from Donald Trump, reportedly making the future US president $54 million. The deal attracted the attention of law enforcement when Trump became president: he was accused of colluding with Russia to win the election. Rybolovlev later sold the property.

Ruslan Baisarov

The leak also contains data from Russian Ruslan Baysarov : he is listed as the owner of five apartments in Tiara Residences, a group of elite skyscrapers on the “trunk” of Palm Jumeirah, and a villa on the “branch” of Al Bumaan.

The total value of the six properties is estimated at approximately $8.5 million.

Baisarov is known for close ties to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is believed to be involved in gross human rights violations, including torture. He also sent soldiers and military resources to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Baysarov finances Kadyrov's Veduchi ski resort near Grozny and supports the sometimes very strange projects of the Chechen leader . Baisarov and Kadyrov appear together in public, including at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. This close relationship earned Baisarov the nickname "Kadyrov's purse."

Kadyrov is under sanctions from the US, UK, EU, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Crime Europe

Dubai property owners include international criminals such as alleged cocaine dealer Daniel Kinahan . According to some reports, he is hiding in the emirate.

In the leak, Kinahan is listed as the owner of a 115-square-meter office in the luxury Jumeirah Bay Tower 3, a 15-minute drive from the beach. According to commercial filings and a recent article in the Irish Times , the two companies that Kinahan co-founded are registered in the same office under number 3005.

According to Kinahan's leaked passport and Emirati ID, he purchased the property between spring 2017 and January 2018. At that time, his alleged involvement in the drug trade had been known for more than a year. In a US diplomatic cable sent from Sierra Leone to Belgium in 2009 and published by WikiLeaks two years later, Kinahan was described as "an Irish businessman involved in the European drug trade who is under extensive investigation."

Daniel Kinahan

The Kinahan Organized Crime Group (KOPG) has been operating in Ireland, the UK, Spain and the UAE for many years. Courts in Ireland and the UK have ruled that the bandits are involved in the international drug and firearms trade, as well as money laundering.

Last month, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Kinahan and other members of the group, noting that "Dubai often plays the role of a hub for the illegal activities of the KOPG." The ministry claims that many people were killed as a result of their activities.

The sanctions were imposed after a massive investigation involving several police departments. The US ambassador to Ireland has offered a $5 million reward to anyone who helps arrest Kinahan, his father or brother, who are also blacklisted.

Kinahan denies any involvement in the crime.

Another interesting character in the leak is Francesco Jordan o, a Milanese businessman in the meat industry.

Giordano and his lover (and also business partner) Larisa Andrea Hanjiu are listed as co-owners of three apartments in Dubai. Each of them also has their own apartment. The total value of their real estate is more than 550 thousand dollars.

Giordano could have bought all this with the money from the sale of meat, but other circumstances are suspicious.

In 2018, Giordano and 27 others were detained by Italian anti-mafia police on charges of tax evasion.

According to investigators, the businessman founded a complex network of companies in northern Italy in order to avoid paying income taxes. With the help of a local mafia, he withdrew money to the accounts of firms in Puglia, his native region.

The criminals used a network of nominees to withdraw cash from banks and hide it, including in the walls of houses. His lover Hanjiu was also charged when police discovered hidden cash at her villa in a suburb of Milan.

The police arrested 27 companies, confiscated luxury villas and cars - then law enforcement officers did not find assets in Dubai. In 2015, customs officers detained Giordano at an Italian airport: he was heading to the Emirates, taking with him checks and cash in excess of 200 thousand euros.

Two years later, thanks to wiretapping, it turned out that Giordano had bribed a police officer - he told the criminal about the investigation, the charges, said that the police knew how the businessman was withdrawing laundered money through restaurants in Rome and Dubai.

In February 2022, Italian prosecutors charged Giordano, Hanjiu and 73 others with tax evasion worth 180 million euros. Giordano is in custody awaiting trial.

His lawyer and Hanjiu did not respond to requests for comment.

Another European with real estate in Dubai had a much more modern criminal business.

According to the leak, Czech venture investor Tibor Bokor owns three apartments in Dubai worth $455,000.

Previously, he was the executive director of the Moscow cryptocurrency exchange, which is registered in the Czech Republic. Last year, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on an exchange called SUEX OTC, saying that 40 percent of the transactions conducted through it are associated with criminals . This was the first time that the US has imposed sanctions on a cryptocurrency exchange.

According to some reports, a Slovak businessman is also hiding in the emirate, who is wanted on charges of corruption . Miroslav Vyboch was a well-known lawyer and lobbyist and even served as the honorary consul of Monaco in Slovakia.

Slovak police have been looking for him since August 2021, when they arrested two of his alleged accomplices in a corruption scheme linked to government orders for IT services.

In an Instagram photo, internationally wanted Vyboh (right) is seen in a Dubai restaurant with Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc

Vyboch himself could not be found. A few months later, fans of Monaco Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc posted a photo of the driver in a Dubai restaurant online. Among those gathered at the table was also Vyboch, who is fond of motorsport and participated in the Ferrari Challenge races.

In the leak, Vyboh is listed as the owner of a nearly $2.7 million apartment in the Alef Residences complex on Palm Jumeirah .

In a letter to OCCRP, Vyboch’s lawyer, Ladislav Smeykal, said that his client bought the apartment in 2017, when the house was still under construction, but did not plan to live in it. The construction was completed only in 2021, and there is not even “finishing” in the apartment itself.

According to him, against the backdrop of rising real estate prices in the UAE, Vyboh is selling an apartment.

Source: https://compromat.group/main/investigations/63889-otkrytie-dubaya-utechka-dannyh-obnaruzhila-v-emirate-nedvizhimost-prestupnikov-chinovnikov-i-politikov-pod-sankciyami.html