Private jets, boats and villas. During the Ukraine war, the assets of a number of oligarchy groups were frozen and confiscated. This should increase the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin (69) to end the war. At least that’s the idea.
But many rich Russians were able to save their money. Because not all states participate in sanctions. For example, including the United Arab Emirates. The city of Dubai benefits greatly from this. Selfish groups are investing heavily in real estate there.
Die “South German newspaper», Along with 20 international research partners, in a new database that provides insights into the ownership situation in the Dubai real estate market.
Nearly 10,000 assets in Russian hands
The research partners, coordinated by the Norwegian financial newspaper “E24”, gave the revelations the headline “Dubai unveiled”. Image data of the Dubai Land Registry in early 2020 was sent to the Center for Advanced Security Surveillance (C4ADS) in Washington. It is an organization that investigates international crimes and conflicts.
In total, more than 5,000 Russian citizens are in the data as owners of more than 9,700 properties in Dubai. So far, Dubai has not joined international sanctions against rich Russians.
Duma MP has an apartment in Palm Jumeirah
According to journalists, about a hundred members of Russia’s political elite, officials and Russian businessmen who own luxury apartments and villas in Dubai have been identified. Many of them are close to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the report, one of them is Ruslan Byzarov, a confidant of Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadir (45). Kadyrov has been providing military support for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Picarro, who is not yet on any international sanctions list, owns five apartments and a beach villa on the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah. The report also mentions the name of Roman Lyapikov, a member of the Communist Party of Russia who has been sanctioned by many Western countries.
Putin’s Duma deputy Alexander Boroday, 49, of the United Russia party, has been booked into an apartment in Palm Jumeirah. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, he rose to become the head of government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. The United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom have given him permission.
The billionaire fraudster appears in the data
In total, the leak includes approximately 800,000 property shares in Dubai and 274,000 individuals and companies from 197 countries and territories. 191,000 of them are foreign owners. Citizens and companies from India and the UK form the largest groups, followed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The more than 2,000 owners included in the leak live in Germany, with nearly 4,500 properties listed.
According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” the data include the names of several suspects, against whom authorities, including Germany, Denmark and Belgium, are investigating tax-damaged and former stock transactions. The most important example is Sanjay Shah, 51, from the UK, who is suspected of freeing Danish tax authorities equivalent to one billion euros in his hedge fund – he also used German banks. Shaw denies any wrongdoing.
German tax authorities also know these data. According to the report, tax officials in several federal states estimate that the federal government purchased an almost identical database in June 2021 for about eleven months for about two million euros.
According to the SZ, investigators in Bavaria are investigating six suspected tax crimes, for a total of 281 trial cases. At SZ’s request, Charland writes cases in the “lower single-digit range” and talks about Baden-W்டrttemberg single-digit trials. (AFP / jmh)
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