INVESTMENT IN DUBAI’S REAL ESTATE BUSINESS
This is apropos a Business Recorder news item ‘Investment in Dubai real estate: NAB asks FBR to verify claims of Transparency International-Pakistan ‘. According to the report, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to verify claims of Transparency International-Pakistan on a huge investment made by Pakistanis in purchase of properties in Dubai and call for information of overseas Pakistanis under avoidance of double taxation convention signed between Pakistan and the UAE. The news item further claims that the NAB has forwarded a letter of Transparency International-Pakistan to the FBR on the recovery of tax on Rs 430 billion properties owned by Pakistanis in the UAE.
That Pakistanis have invested an amount of US $4 billion in the emirate is a claim that makes greater sense because of evident participation of a large number of Pakistanis in the real estate business of Dubai. A number of Pakistan-based land developers are said to have already entered into lawful agreements with their local partners in Dubai. Pakistanis, particularly those belonging to Pakistani diaspora based in the US, Europe and the Middle East, are said to have made a sizeable investment in Dubai’s real estate. But the facts are still quite sketchy. Transparency International-Pakistan is, therefore, required to back its claim with concrete evidence to prove how and why overseas Pakistanis are violating the avoidance of double taxation convention signed between Pakistan and the UAE.
