Committed to safeguard global financial system: UAE embassies

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials have said that the country was committed to protect the integrity of global financial system after the bombshell report on various global elites' ownership of properties in Dubai. 

A number of politicians, globally sanctioned individuals, alleged money launderers and criminals have been listed among thousands of property holders in the Gulf state. Pakistanis have also been identified on the list and their combined value has been estimated at around $11 billion.

“The country takes its role in protecting the integrity of the global financial system extremely seriously”, statement by UAE embassies in the United Kingdom and Norway said.

The statement came after the global collaborative investigative journalism project revealed the ownership of properties of the global elite in Dubai. The list includes political figures, globally sanctioned individuals, alleged money launderers and criminals. Pakistanis have also been identified on the list and their combined value has been estimated at around $11 billion.

The UAE officials — including at the ministries of interior, economy, and justice — and Dubai Police, however, did not respond to detailed questions.

The statement issued by the UAE embassies further said that the country continues to pursue global criminals while working 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,” it added.

The project — 'Dubai Unlocked’ — based on the data that provides a detailed overview of hundreds of thousands of properties in Dubai and information about their ownership or usage, largely from 2020 and 2022, surfaced on Tuesday.

Properties purchased in the name of companies and those that are in commercial areas are not part of this analysis.

More than a dozen retired military officials and their families, as well as bankers and bureaucrats, own properties in upscale Dubai areas, according to data revealed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project’s (OCCRP) Dubai Unlocked project.

Among the thousands of Pakistanis who own these properties are around a dozen retired military generals, two retired air vice-marshals of the Pakistan Air Force, a serving inspector general of police (IGP), a retired president of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), a former chairman of the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL), and a serving chairman of the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology.