Report describes Dubai real estate as money-laundering haven

War profiteers, terror financiers and drug traffickers sanctioned by the US in recent years have used Dubai's real-estate market as a haven for their assets, a new report released today alleges.

The report by the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies, relying on leaked property data from the city-state, offers evidence to support the long-whispered rumours about Dubai's real-estate boom. It identifies some USD 100 million in suspicious purchases of apartments and villas across the city of skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates, where foreign ownership fuels construction that now outpaces local demand.

The government-run Dubai Media Office said it could not comment on the report. For its part, the centre known by the acronym C4ADS said Dubai has a "high-end luxury real estate market and lax regulatory environment prizing secrecy and anonymity above all else." That comes as the US already warns that Dubai's economic free zones and trade in gold and diamonds poses a risk.

Dubai, an Arabian Peninsula entrepot, long has been a favourite port of call for those skirting the law. Gold smuggling into India served as one of the emirate's most lucrative trades for the decades after the pearling industry collapsed. Guns, drugs and other illicit cargo also moved through the city-state.

"The permissive nature of this environment has global security implications far beyond the sands of the UAE," the center said in its report. "In an interconnected global economy with low barriers impeding the movement of funds, a single point of weakness in the regulatory system can empower and enable a range of global illicit actors."
Among the highest-profile individuals named in the report is Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad and one of that country's wealthiest businessmen. The US has sanctioned Makhlouf, who owns the largest mobile phone carrier Syriatel, for using "intimidation and his close ties to the Assad regime to obtain improper financial advantages at the expense of ordinary Syrians."