List of Pakistanis Owning High-End Properties in Dubai

List of Pakistanis

Several prominent Pakistanis have been named in the latest leaks detailing individuals who own properties in upscale areas of Dubai.

According to data revealed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project’s (OCCRP) ‘Dubai Unlocked’ project, the combined value of properties owned by Pakistanis is estimated to be around $11 billion.

The ‘Dubai Unlocked’ project provides a comprehensive overview of hundreds of thousands of properties in Dubai, focusing on ownership and usage information from 2020 and 2022.

It excludes properties purchased in the name of companies and those in commercial areas. The data was obtained by the Centre for Advanced Defence Studies (C4ADS), a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization, and shared with Norwegian financial outlet E24 and the OCCRP.

This collaborative six-month investigation involved reporters from 74 media outlets across 58 countries, uncovering details about convicted criminals, fugitives, and political figures owning real estate in Dubai.

Among the Pakistanis listed in the leaks are the children of President Asif Ali Zardari, Hussain Nawaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s wife, Sharjeel Memon and his family, Senator Faisal Vawda, Farah Gogi, Sher Afzal Marwat, four MNAs, and half a dozen MPAs from the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies.

The list also includes the late Gen Pervez Musharraf, former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, more than a dozen retired generals, a police chief, an ambassador, and a scientist, all of whom owned properties directly or through their spouses and children.

In 2014, President Asif Ali Zardari received foreign property as a gift, which he later gifted to someone else by 2018. A business tycoon co-accused with Zardari in the fake accounts case, Abdul Ghani Majid, had declared a gift worth Rs329 million in his wealth statement in 2014 without specifying the recipient.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) recovered a memo about a penthouse purchase in Dubai, later revealed to have been gifted to Zardari and subsequently to his daughter.

The Chief Financial Officer of Omni Group, Aslam Masood, is listed as owning several properties in Dubai with his wife. One property was purchased in March 2013 for AED1,060,626 (Rs80 million). Sohrab Dinshaw owns a villa bought in 2015 for AED1,271,888 (Rs96 million).

The Altaf Khanani network, sanctioned by the US for money laundering, also appears in the list, with his son, daughter, brother, and nephew owning several properties in Dubai.

Another notable individual is Hamid Mukhtar Shah, a physician from Rawalpindi sanctioned by the US for involvement in human trafficking and organ harvesting. He owns numerous properties in Dubai.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s wife owns a five-bedroom villa in the Arabian Ranches, which was not declared in Naqvi’s Senate election nomination papers. She earned AED600,000 (Rs45 million) in rental income from this villa, purchased in August 2017 for AED4,347,888 (Rs329 million) and sold in April 2023 for AED4,550,000 (Rs344 million).

It’s important to note that the OCCRP ‘Property Leaks’ story does not primarily focus on Pakistan. Of the $389 billion worth of properties exposed, less than 2.5% are owned by Pakistanis.

Owning property abroad is not inherently illegal; many individuals acquire such assets through legitimate means, such as working abroad or using taxed income. It is up to tax authorities to determine the legality of these acquisitions.

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While Dubai continues to face challenges, it strives for transparency and legal fairness, ensuring a healthy and inclusive economic and social environment.