Activists and politicians are calling for the United Arab Emirates to be blacklisted because of their inability to fight the flow of “dirty money” and the fact that they cannot enforce sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs. This was reported in The Guardian , .
KYIV. UkraineGate. 28 . June 2022 | Economy.
Details
According to media reports, the UAE has become a major haven for Russian oligarchs fleeing sanctions, and their private jets and yachts have begun to flow into the Emirates since the start of the war in Ukraine.
“Dubai has long been a safe haven for dirty money. It must now be blacklisted financially, and its leaders should not be welcomed here,” Bill Browder, a financier and critic of Putin’s regime, told reporters.
He said that secondary sanctions should be imposed on the UAE if they do not help countries that persecute the assets of oligarchs.
As it became known, one of the most expensive private planes in the world, owned by the former owner of the Chelsea football club Roman Abramovich, has been in Dubai for more than three months.
FBI investigators also found that other Russians often come to the Emirates, where, among other things, there is a surge in the purchase of real estate by Russian citizens.
The UAE was “grayed” by the Global Financial Action Observatory (FATF) in March due to insufficient measures to combat money laundering and other financial crimes.
However, according to journalists from The Guardian, officials in the UAE do not believe that they should apply sanctions against Russia, which were imposed by other countries.
At the same time, the Emirates has signed a number of agreements on mutual legal assistance and extradition with other states, including the United States. At the same time, the UAE abstained from voting for the UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Before
Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, a MEP from Denmark, said the latest investigation had shown that the UAE was a safe haven for criminal proceeds, corrupt officials and Russian oligarchs. She insists that the Emirates be blacklisted.
Let’s add
The United Arab Emirates is one of the most popular countries for Russians: in the first three months of this year alone, real estate purchases in the Emirates increased by 67%.
Among other things, there was a yacht worth 240 million pounds, associated with billionaire Andrei Melnichenko, and the superyacht “Madame Gu”, which is associated with Andrei Skoch, billionaire and member of the Russian parliament.
In addition, a former internationally wanted deputy from Odessa, Ruslan Tarpan, is in Dubai .
He has been wanted in Ukraine since 2017 and has now been remanded in custody in absentia, all because Tarpan is a suspect in the case of embezzling hundreds of millions of budget hryvnias during the construction of the Deepwater Release project.
Prosecutors are already preparing a request for his extradition from the Emirates.
Source: Ukrgate
