Money laundering by the Gupta family using shelf companies in Dubai is "very unfortunate" and is being discussed "at the highest level", says Hamad Buamim, president and CEO of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Dubai, through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) central bank, was looking into allegations of money laundering involving the Gupta family, Buamim revealed at the chamber’s Dubai headquarters on Monday.
"We look at it and we speak about it at a very high level, let me tell you this," he said, without providing further details.
The chamber represents the interests of businesses operating in Dubai and has more than 200,000 members, of which about 17,500 are African companies — all of which were active, the chamber said.
Leaked e-mails show how the Gupta family used Dubai shelf companies to facilitate the laundering of hundreds of millions of rand belonging to South African taxpayers.
There are allegations too that the Guptas have facilitated the acquisition of a retirement home for President Jacob Zuma in Dubai. One of his sons is said to own a mansion in Dubai.
UK and US authorities are also investigating the possible involvement of overseas banks.
"With hundreds of thousands of companies that exist in Dubai, there might be certain shell companies that utilise certain gaps in the system, but there is always a monitoring of that," Buamim said.
In 2015, advocacy group the Tax Justice Network ranked Dubai as one of the 15 most secretive jurisdictions in the world when it came to financial flows. But it has taken steps, as part of the UAE, to tackle money laundering in recent years, following recommendations from the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force.
Through membership of the Co-operation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, the UAE is a member of the task force.
The nation has also committed to share tax and financial information with other countries under the common reporting standard. The standard comes into effect in 2018 and was developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to combat tax evasion.
Dubai, the UAE’s largest and most populous emirate, had over the past 10 years, and with sharper focus each year, tried to deal with issues such as money laundering, Buamim said. "It’s unfortunate [that] these things can happen."
Dubai was tracking current international investigations into the Gupta family, led by British and American authorities, he said. "I think if anything happens, there will also be actions [in Dubai]. I don’t want to tell you what’s happening."
HSBC and Standard Chartered are facing investigations by UK authorities, including the Serious Fraud Office, over whether they facilitated money laundering for the Guptas.
This comes after British parliamentarian Lord Peter Hain asked finance minister Philip Hammond to request that law enforcement agencies investigate the banks’ ties to the family’s dealings. Meanwhile, the FBI and US department of justice are investigating Gupta relatives in that country.
It was unfortunate that institutions that claimed to be of the highest integrity, such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and KPMG were embroiled in allegations of money laundering, Buamim said. "Dubai is not the only one that is involved in it. This is something we don’t like to see in the backyard of Dubai."
Ziady is a guest of the chamber in Dubai.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.