DUBAI: Indians ranked first among foreign owners of residential properties in Dubai, with 35,000 properties and 29,700 owners, according to statistics from the OCCRP’s “Dubai Unlocked” initiative. These properties are believed to have been worth $17 billion in total.
In the 2022 sample, Saudi nationals are listed with 16,000 residential properties and 8,500 owners, valued at $8.5 billion, whereas UK people hold 22,000 residential properties and 19,500 owners, valued at $10 billion.
On its website, the OCCRP states that “many contractors were accused of skimming reconstruction funds as billions of US dollars flowed in to rebuild Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban in 2001.” Some of them now possess opulent homes in Dubai.According to the report, which they have rejected, former speaker of the Afghan parliament Mir Rahman Rahmani and his son Ajmal allegedly spent more than $15 million on real estate in Dubai. The information also reveals that Dubai real estate is owned by at least three other contractors implicated in procurement problems involving Afghanistan.
