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ICIJ Profile picture
@ICIJorg
Nov 16, 2021 • 9 tweets • 8 min read • Read on X
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NEW: Amid its rise as a major global financial hub, the United Arab Emirates has also become a thriving offshore destination. The #PandoraPapers provide an unprecedented look at how the Emirates operate as a secrecy haven and conduit for dirty money. 🧵bit.ly/3CmTp98
ICIJ reporter @mokhbersahafi traveled to the UAE to investigate offshore companies created within Dubai’s corporate enclave and the role that the country’s six royal families play in its economy and its offshore financial industry. bit.ly/3CmTp98
In #PandoraPapers, @mokhbersahafi & @michaelwhudson show how the UAE has become a nexus for financial crime. Its offshore industry’s clients include internet moguls who moved hundreds of millions for child porn traffickers, heroin dealers & other lowlifes. bit.ly/3CmTp98
The UAE is also home to SFM Corporate Services, an offshore company formation provider. The #PandoraPapers shows how money launderers and other bad guys used SFM to set up hard-to-trace offshore firms. SFM denies wrongdoing. bit.ly/3CmTp98
The #PandoraPapers reveal the offshore holdings of heavyweight Emirati royals, including PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; National Security Advisor Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan; and the president's son, Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan. bit.ly/3osavgQ
#PandoraPapers exposes the secretive Emirati financial interests of politicians and corporate leaders from 17 African countries. @willfitzgibbon reports on how the UAE has become an offshore destination for elites from some of Africa's poorest nations. bit.ly/3kICQ1d
The UAE has also turned to the gold trade to make up for its dwindling oil reserves, and now ranks among the world’s top gold importers, including from conflict-ridden African nations — a major driver of money laundering in the country. #PandoraPapers bit.ly/3CmTp98
The U.S. sees the UAE as a key military ally and bulwark against terrorism in the Middle East. This may explain why it hasn’t applied the same kind of pressure to clean up its offshore industry as it has on Switzerland and other tax havens. #PandoraPapers bit.ly/3CmTp98
While the UAE is now facing more anti-money laundering scrutiny, recent transparency reforms have been criticized as weak and its patchwork ‘free zone’ system, generally controlled by royals, is seen as particularly complicated to monitor. #PandoraPapers bit.ly/3CmTp98

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More from @ICIJorg

ICIJ Profile picture
Aug 2
Since the 1950s, Israel Bonds, which sells bonds to fund Israel’s government, has evolved, increasingly courting banks and other institutional investors.

In recent years, U.S. states and municipalities have sunk billions into Israeli bonds. buff.ly/3SwnUUM
Thousands of records obtained by ICIJ reveal Israel Bonds’ tight relationship with U.S. institutional investors, and how some officials who buy Israeli bonds have had access to gala dinners, cocktail celebrations, and private meetings with Israeli leaders.buff.ly/3SwnUUM
A spokesperson for Israel Bonds told ICIJ that the bonds are safe investments with steady returns, and described the group’s sales strategy as “just like any other business.” But ethics experts say such dealings are not always so straightforward.

buff.ly/3SwnUUM
A quote by Richard W. Painter, a law professor who was a chief White House ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration, reads “These types of practices, the mixing up of the personal and official, seem to go well beyond what’s seen as acceptable.”
Read 6 tweets
ICIJ Profile picture
May 14
Interpol has asked governments worldwide to find and provisionally arrest Isabel dos Santos, yet the former Angolan billionaire isn't hiding. Instead, she often posts about her lavish lifestyle at a Dubai residence.

The country has remained her safe haven.buff.ly/3ykHpIP
Newly leaked Dubai property data reviewed by ICIJ for #DubaiUnlocked reveal that dos Santos and her mother, Tatiana “Kukanova” Regan, co-own an apartment in a building called Sadaf, Arabic for “seashell,” overlooking Dubai Marina and the Persian Gulf. buff.ly/3ykHpIP
The eldest daughter of Angola’s former president, dos Santos came under scrutiny by authorities on three continents after ICIJ’s #LuandaLeaks revealed how lucrative deals obtained under her father’s rule helped her become Africa’s richest woman. buff.ly/3UY5DBE
Read 5 tweets
ICIJ Profile picture
May 12
Did you miss the launch of our #SwaziSecrets investigation?

Catch up with the stories our partners worked on in this thread!
@amaBhungane, @AJEnglish, @FinUncovered, @OpenSecretsZA, @jeune_afrique, @TheAfricaReport, @MakandayMedia, @PremiumTimesng buff.ly/4dBIMTK
@amaBhungane @AJEnglish @FinUncovered @OpenSecretsZA @jeune_afrique @TheAfricaReport @MakandayMedia @PremiumTimesng buff.ly/4dwsA61
@amaBhungane @AJEnglish @FinUncovered @OpenSecretsZA @jeune_afrique @TheAfricaReport @MakandayMedia @PremiumTimesng buff.ly/3UWbd6r
Read 11 tweets
ICIJ Profile picture
Mar 26
A member of the Qatari royal family invested about $50 million in Newsmax, bolstering the conservative outlet at a time when Qatar was facing diplomatic pressure and seeking U.S. allies.

buff.ly/3ITH5mh
A photo of Donald Trump besides a photo of Christopher Ruddy. The headline reads, “Qatari royal invested about $50 million in pro-Trump network Newsmax.”
Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani, a former Qatari government official and the owner of a London-based investment fund, Heritage Advisors, invested in Newsmax in 2019 and 2020.

The investment has not been previously reported. buff.ly/3ITH5mh
The documents were obtained by ICIJ from a trove of roughly 100,000 leaked files from Genesis Trust, a Cayman Islands-based financial services provider now called Highvern.

Newsmax and Heritage Advisors confirmed the investment. buff.ly/3ITH5mh
Read 8 tweets
ICIJ Profile picture
Dec 28, 2023
ICIJ's 2023 investigations stretched around the world, exposing greenwashing in the global sustainability industry, labor trafficking in the Middle East, and the sprawling financial networks that have powered the Putin regime.

Let's take a look back: bit.ly/479C9DM
Image
ICIJ-led investigation #CyprusConfidential revealed how the EU member state has served as a hideaway for Russian wealth, with Cypriot firms moving vast sums for oligarchs, including after Russia’s 2022 Ukraine invasion.

bit.ly/488EzUo
An illustration depicting a dome characteristic of Russian Orthodox churches balancing precariously on a Greek-style column. The headline reads, “Cyprus ignores Russian atrocities, Western sanctions to shield vast wealth of Putin allies.”
Two wealthy Haitians sanctioned by Canada owned or had other links to almost 20 companies and trusts created in some of the world’s most secretive tax havens, according to documents from the #PandoraPapers.

bit.ly/3TAPf9Z
Composite image of scanned passports and two men carrying a coffin. The headline reads, “How US lawyers and bankers aided powerful Haitian tycoons now sanctioned over corruption by Canada.”
Read 7 tweets
ICIJ Profile picture
Nov 17, 2023
1/8 #CyprusConfidential reveals the pivotal role the Mediterranean island plays in helping oligarchs move and hide their wealth. Here are six billionaires identified in the 3.6 million document leak: bit.ly/40GMmpy
2/8 #CyprusConfidential details how, just days before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, more than $1.7 billion worth of shares from Russian steel giant Evraz were transferred from former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich’s BVI-based company to himself. Image
3/8 ICIJ’s partners for #CyprusConfidential also report that Abramovich wielded significantly more influence in European professional football than was previously known: bit.ly/3sDwmIa
Read 8 tweets

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