‘532 Bangladeshis own real estate in Dubai’

ZOOMBANGLA DESK : Some 532 Bangladeshi nationals own 641 real estate properties valued at an estimated US$225 million in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, according to a report.

Without providing any further details regarding their identities, a six-month-long joint investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Norwegian outlet E24 uncovered the report titled ‘Dubai Unlocked.’

According to it, scores of convicted criminals, fugitives, political figures, and sanctioned individuals from different countries own real estate in Dubai.

As per the findings of 2022, assessed by economists and reporters from 74 partners in 58 countries, the number of residential properties owned by foreigners puts Indians first, at 35,000 properties and 29,700 owners, with the total value of these properties estimated at $17 billion.

The OCCRP said that owners with Pakistani nationality come in second among foreigners, with 17,000 owners of 23,000 residential properties in Dubai.

In a report, the Pakistani daily Dawn said that 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.

In April last year, following a High Court order, the Anti-Corruption Commission initiated an inquiry into the allegation that 459 Bangladeshi nationals bought properties in Dubai illegally.

In May 2022, a US-based non-profit, the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, published a research paper highlighting Bangladeshis buying housing assets with money that was laundered mainly in Gulf countries.

According to the report, 459 Bangladeshis own a total of 972 residential properties in Dubai at a cost of $315 million.

The OCCRP report said that Dubai has long maintained an open-door policy for foreign nationals looking to live and do business there.

It said that the emirate offers a combination of extremely favourable tax regimes, free trade zones with little regulation, a liberalised property market, low-cost residence-by-investment schemes, and, during the pandemic, low restrictions on movement.

As a result of these policies, as well as a high demand for migrant workers, Dubai has become a city of foreigners. Of its more than three million inhabitants, only 8% are Emiratis.

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