Ex-Afghan officials own $42m assets in Dubai: Report

KABUL (Pajhwok): Eleven Afghans – mostly former officials and their relatives – own properties worth more than $42 million in the Dubai city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an investigative journalism organisation has revealed.

Of these individuals, some have reacted into the report, but the rest are yet to comment on the properties they have in Dubai — the most populated UAE city.

The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) released a list revealing the assets of hundreds of current and former government officials from various countries in Dubai.

The findings were published by the Washington-based OCCPR and funded by several American entities.

The 11 Afghans whose properties were revealed by the organisation are:

Mir Rahman Rahmani, Ajmal Rahmani

Mir Rahmani Rahmani, former speaker of the Afghanistan parliament, and his son Ajmal Rahmani have spent $15.2 million on real estate in Dubai. In an emailed responses to quarries, the Rahmanis denied the allegations.

The source wrote that their holdings include multiple apartments and villas, as well as two high-rise buildings that generate millions in rental income every year.

Last year, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mir Rahman Rahmin and his family for corruption.

In another OCCRP report published on the same day, the value of Rahmani’s properties in five places was shown to be more than $6.6 million dollars, but his property worth was unknown in another place.

In their lawsuit against the US government, the Rahmanis said they “categorically deny any involvement in any fuel procurement corruption.”

“Our legal team is prepared and has substantial evidence proving that the referenced $200 million fuel corruption allegation is unfounded and not linked to us or any of our affiliated companies,” Ajmal Rahmani added in an email to reporters.

His father denied any involvement in the fuel business.

“I have neither held any fuel contracts nor conducted business of this nature with the US, NATO, nor any type of contract with Afghan governments,” Mir Rahmani wrote in a separate email.

Abdul Hussain Faheem

Faheem, the brother of former Vice President Marshal Fahim invested $8.8 million in real estate in Dubai. Hussain Faheem was also a shareholder in Kabul Bank.

Asadullah Khalid

Former Defence Minister and Intelligence chief owns an apartment worth $5.492 million in Dubai.

According to a Human Rights Watch report in 2015, Asadullah Khalid is accused of committing or ordering human rights violations, including torture and extrajudicial killings.

According to the source, Khalid, who does not know what official charges he faced, has refused to comment on this matter.

Rashid Popal

Popal is the nephew of former President Hamid Karzai owns a high-value apartment worth more than $3.834 million in Dubai.

Popal, whose private security firm was found by a 2010 congressional investigation to be using US reconstruction funds to pay bribes to militants and other militants, as well as government security forces controlling supply-route checkpoints.

Adib Fahim

Fahim is the sone of Marshal Fahim and former deputy of National Security Council. Fahim has three apartments in Dubai that collectively valued at $3.543 million.

Ahmad Wali Massoud

The brother of Ahmad Shah Massoud and former ambassador to the UK, owns an apartment worth $1.853 million.

Sayed Ismail Amiri

Another former contractor, Sayed Ismail Amiri, a California resident who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the government of Afghanistan out of more than $100m, also owns a villa in The Meadows worth an estimated $1.6m today. He did not respond to a request for comment.

mirzai Sangin

Sangin was the former Minister of Telecommunication invested $780,000 in two apartments.

Sangin told OCCRP that from 2016 to 2018, he purchased properties from his savings and then sold them. He said currently he had only two unites in Dubai.

Atiqullah Baryalai

Former Deputy Minister of Defence owns an apartment worth $731,000 in Dubai.

Kamaluddin Nabizada

Nabizada invested $258,000 in an apartment in Dubai. He has been sanctioned as for aiding money laundering activities.

The source claimed that the US imposed sanctions on Nabizada in 2022 due to allegations that he has helped raise funds for the Quds Force in coordination with high-ranking officials of the Russian government.

Pajhwok tried to contact these individuals for comments on the report, but did not succeed.

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