Dubai Unlocked: 17,000 Pakistanis own residential properties worth $11bn
Several prominent Pakistanis have been named in the latest leaks containing details of individuals who own properties in the upscale areas of Dubai.
The “Dubai Unlocked” project by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) includes political figures, former military officials, bankers and bureaucrats.
According to the data leak, Indians tops the list of foreigners owning residential properties in Dubai at 35,000 properties and 29,700 owners. The total value of these properties is estimated at $17 billion.
Owners with Pakistani nationality come second among foreigners at 17,000 owners of 23,000 residential properties followed by UK citizens and Saudi nationals.
Among the Pakistani owners, the average value per owner is estimated at $0.41 million (Rs11.40m). The combined value of the properties of Pakistanis has been estimated at around $11 billion (Rs30tr) whereas the total value of properties of 204 nationalities is $386 billion (Rs1073.70tr).
The project is based on 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. Properties purchased in the name of companies and those in commercial areas are not included.
The data was obtained by the Centre for Advanced Defence Studies (C4ADS), a non-profit organisation based in Washington, DC. It was then shared with Norwegian financial outlet E24 and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which coordinated a six-month investigative project with reporters from 74 media outlets in 58 countries, uncovering scores of convicted criminals, fugitives, and political figures who owned real estate in Dubai.
Among the Pakistanis listed in the Property Leaks are President Asif Ali Zardari’s three children, Hussain Nawaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s wife, Sindh miniter Sharjeel Memon and his family members, Senator Faisal Vawda, Farah Gogi, Sher Afzal Marwat, four MNAs and half a dozen MPAs from the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies.
The Pakistani list also features the late Gen Pervez Musharraf, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and more than a dozen retired generals as well as a police chief, an ambassador and a scientist – all of whom owned properties either directly or through their spouses and children.
The data also revealed that Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s wife owns a property in Dubai which he reportedly didn’t declare in the nomination papers submitted in recent Senate elections.