The Carnegie Endowment for Peace Research said that the Emirate of Dubai is one of the hotbeds of global corruption, crime and illicit financial flows, and pointed to the need to pressure officials in the UAE to implement reforms so that global stability and peace are not harmed.

The Foundation begins a long report entitled "Dubai's role in facilitating corruption and illicit global financial flows" (Dubai's Role in Facilitating Corruption and Global Illicit Financial Flows) by saying that corrupt and criminals from all over the world work through or from Dubai, and find a suitable place for their activities in Money laundering, including Afghan warlords, Russian gangs, Nigerian thieves, European money launderers and East African gold smugglers.

The long report says that what supported Dubai’s prosperity is the continuous flow of illegal revenues resulting from corruption and crime, and the flow of these fortunes in the emirate has fueled the real estate market in it, as well as transformed it into a major center for gold trading in the world.

Turn a blind eye to dirty money

The report draws attention to the fact that at the same time, both Emirati leaders and the international community continue to turn a blind eye to problematic behaviors, administrative gaps and practices that make Dubai a globally attractive destination for dirty money.

He recalled that while leaders in Washington and many other Western capitals are reassessing their strategies and relations in the Gulf to reflect changing geopolitical realities, new economic imperatives and growing differences with regional partners on a range of policy issues, there is a short-term opportunity to address concerns about Dubai's role in enabling Global corruption and its multiple destabilizing effects.

The report said that carrying out this reform will require a thorough understanding of the reason for the emergence of corruption and how it has become a central component of Dubai's political economy.

He explained that the emirate was built to attract foreign buyers, and it is packed with towers of upscale apartments and man-made islands studded with luxury villas, and the development of the real estate market in it has become a source for attracting polluted funds, because real estate developers and real estate agents accept huge amounts of people suspected politically, and those in public positions as well Their families, partners, and other suspicious buyers, even individuals targeted by international sanctions, use Dubai to launder money because of weak regulations and inaction.

Dubai is a hub for gold washing

According to the Carnegie Report, Dubai is now one of the largest hubs of gold in the world, and it is also a place to wash gold extracted manually, especially from conflict areas in East and Central Africa, and the vague trade practices and regulatory loopholes of this washed gold allow entry to global markets on a large scale.

The report added that with approximately 30 free trade zones, Dubai is a haven for money laundering on the basis of trade, and these areas operate with minimal regulatory oversight or impose customs, and allow companies to hide criminal proceeds by over-reducing the real price of bills or raising them, and with multiple bills, And forgery of other business documents.

And all of this - as the report indicates - with the central government of the UAE, Dubai officials and Emirati law enforcement agencies largely having technical knowledge and the ability to address these issues, and with UAE officials, regulators and law enforcement agents knowing that Dubai is a channel for illicit financial transactions.

Dubai's role in the corruption of governance in the world

The report pointed out that what is happening in Dubai and the UAE is important, because both of them have strategic importance for the United States, Britain and other countries, because the UAE is one of Washington and London's main partners in security and trade in the region, and Dubai - in particular - has close historical and trade relations with neighboring Iran.

Moreover, many of the illegal activities described in this report - Carnegie says - have strategic consequences for America and Britain, as they exacerbate conflict, transnational organized crime, "terrorism" and poor governance in countries around the world.

Thorny corruption and organized crime challenges

Among the most prominent challenges to fight corruption and organized crime in Dubai - according to Carnegie - is the wide range and the large size of illicit financial flows and global facilitation networks that end in or cross the emirate.

These problematic ties intersect with a host of other regional and career policy concerns, and Dubai - characterized by secrecy and confusion - often rejects external attempts to distinguish whether thieves and criminals buy real estate or launder money through the emirate.

The Carnegie report adds that international law enforcement agencies are finding it difficult to obtain information and cooperation from the UAE authorities.

In its report issued last April by the UAE, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a specific invitation to Dubai due to the limited number of trials and convictions related to money laundering.

As a result, FATF has placed the emirate under observation for a year to ensure that it fully implements the recently passed anti-money laundering legislation, that it is actively working to dismantle international money laundering networks and improve formal cross-border cooperation in criminal cases.

With this charge, policymakers and implementers cannot overlook Dubai's failure to take the remedial policy and enforcement steps necessary to stem illicit financial flows.

Emirati elites resist reforms that jeopardize their own interests and contradict their preferred economic and political vision for Dubai and the UAE in general (French)

Governance institutions of a personal nature

The Carnegie report sees that the other major challenges in fighting corruption in Dubai are the emirate's highly personal institutions and the absence of mechanisms to account for the elites, and although thieves and criminals are similarly active and able to exploit lax regulations in the United States, Britain and many other European countries, they face greater scrutiny Many law enforcement officials, the media, and civil society in these countries compare to what exists in Dubai, and the emirate does not support a free press, active civil society, and the right to peaceful protest.

And in the absence of local and international pressure, we find that Emirati elites are free to resist reforms that jeopardize their own interests or their preferred political economic vision for Dubai and the UAE in general, according to the Carnegie Report.

And until international policymakers and practitioners intensify their efforts to motivate Emirati decision makers and pressure them to undertake reforms and crack down on illicit financial flows across the emirate, Dubai will continue to be a challenge to anti-corruption and crime-fighting efforts worldwide, the report says.

Future ways

The report confirms that the reforms are applicable and realistic and serve the strategic interest of Emirati leaders and their international partners, and provides a number of references to crystallize the means of reform in Dubai, including:

• Putting the emirate under surveillance by FATF: It
is an important indication that the international scrutiny and pressure on Dubai activities will increase. Moreover, the emirate will remain disproportionately vulnerable to external shocks such as the global financial crisis of 2008, when the business, real estate and travel markets do not suffer And not only legitimate financing, but also criminal institutions, the emirate can immediately start eliminating illicit financial flows by applying existing laws more effectively and transparently. Dubai can also stress the regulation of the real estate, gold, and banking sectors, liberalize labor laws, and tackle money laundering Trade-based, deepening cooperation with international law enforcement.

can policy makers Westerners also play a role in encouraging the Government of Dubai and the UAE , and the pressure on them to implement reforms:
may include possible actions for policy - makers in the United States , the United Kingdom and Europe to impose sanctions travel and financial on Facilitators crimes and corruption in the UAE, as they can also focus more on Soft power issues, such as lack of human rights, democracy and good governance in Dubai and the UAE in general, rather than focusing almost exclusively on financing "terrorism" and anti-Iran activities.

• Linking security assistance to the required reforms and
as part of this effort, the link and security assistance can be conditional on required reforms. Moreover, given the lack of press freedom and civil society in the UAE, Western governments can increase their support for independent external journalists, civil society groups, and researchers in the fight against corruption and human rights Who report on Dubai.

The role of non-governmental entities
International organizations - including the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions - can take a more rigorous look at Dubai's role in facilitating illicit financial flows, and consider adding the emirate to various blacklists in line with recent findings of the working group The financial.

• The role of international organizations, civil society groups, and Western governments. International organizations, civil society groups, and Western governments
can also distance themselves from Dubai’s bad reputation in money laundering, such as these entities ceasing to send messages that lead to opposite or mixed results when participating in events that follow Damage to fighting corruption in Dubai, human rights, or conflict prevention.

The report concludes with its remarks that these international actors will need to work together to formulate a coherent and coordinated set of incentives and disincentives, the so-called "carrot and stick", which would affect the decision-making accounts of Emirati leaders.