Dubai Leaks , Is this The Reason Behind Pakistan Real Estate Price Fall, Inside Story Of Dubai Leaks
Dubai Unlocked: Pakistan’s multi-billion dollar property pie
Details - an astounding volume of leaked property data that includes over 23,000 properties listed as belonging to Pakistani nationals up to the spring of 2022 - are unveiled after a six-month-long investigation.
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OFFICIALS in Pakistan have tried in recent years to unearth details of Pakistani citizens who own assets in Dubai with an aim to bring undeclared assets and income into the tax net. But they have made little headway. Dubai authorities are reluctant to share information about something as simple as the number of Pakistani citizens with Dubai residence visas, commonly known as iqamas or Emirates IDs.
There is also a political element to the stonewalling: Pakistan doesn’t have the geopolitical clout to demand this information. Today, those details - an astounding volume of leaked property data that includes over 23,000 properties listed as belonging to Pakistani nationals up to the spring of 2022 - are at the fingertips of journalists from scores of media outlets around the world.
The leaked data provides a detailed overview of hundreds of thousands of properties in Dubai and information about their ownership or usage, largely from 2020 and 2022. It was obtained by the Center for Advanced Defence Studies (C4ADS), a non-profit organisation based in Washington, D.C., that researches international crime and conflict.
It was then shared with Norwegian financial outlet E24 and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which coordinated an investigative project with media outlets from around the world. Titled ‘Dubai Unlocked’, the collaboration includes 74 partners from 58 countries. Dawn is part of that collaboration.
A mere mention in the data is not evidence in itself of financial crime or tax fraud. Nor does the data contain information such as residence status, sources of income, tax declarations of rental income or capital gains. In fact, several of those approached by Dawn for comment on their properties said they were declared to the tax authorities. But it does paint an astonishing picture of contrasts. Pakistan, a developing country teetering on the edge of economic collapse, begging international lenders and friendly countries for lifelines in single-digit billions, features prominently in the data.
While 17,000 Pakistani citizens are listed owners in the 2022 leak, academics using the data and additional sources put the actual number of Pakistani owners of residential property in Dubai at 22,000. They further estimate that the apartments and villas may have been worth more than $10 billion at the start of 2022, but with the more than 25 per cent increase in property prices over the last two years, the real worth of Pakistanis’ residential properties in Dubai could now be well above $12.5bn.
Some of the Pakistani politicians, including serving government officials, named in the recent report on properties of 17,000 Pakistanis in Dubai looked to downplay the development, saying there is “nothing new or illegal” in the news.
As may be expected, several elected officials and Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) have a significant presence in the Dubai leaks, that cover property ownership up to the spring of 2022. Many are household names; some are no strangers to controversy; a few have been embroiled in mega financial scandals.
Surprisingly, however, there are some Pakistani families (both political and from the business world) who are widely known to have a base and family homes in Dubai, but are conspicuous by their absence in the property leaks. This underscores that the data, though robust, is neither a historic account of property ownership nor is it a complete picture of all properties bought by Pakistanis there. Many owners remain undetected, especially those who purchased property via a lesser-known third party, or lesser-known company.
Among the A-listers on the political landscape are President Zardari’s children, two of whom are elected representatives. Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari, a Dubai resident, and MNAs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari are listed as owners of four properties between them.
Netizens called it “Dubai leaks” as they were astonished to know that 23,000 properties owned by Pakistanis in the emirate city are worth more than $11 billion at a time when foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan are standing at just above $9 billion and the country is hoping a new loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after it completed a $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement last month.
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