Three people arrested in a raid on an alleged money laundering ring in Singapore invested over $30 million in Dubai real estate, leaked data reveals. One of the suspects, who was wanted in China at the time, was behind a property broker that became a major sales agent for the city’s largest real estate developer, part-owned by Dubai’s ruler.
Key Findings
- Su Jianfeng, in detention in Singapore awaiting trial for charges of money laundering and fraud, is an owner of Dubai-based broker Fidu Properties DMCC. That firm was part of the Fidu Property Real Estate Brokerage, a top partner for Emaar Properties PJSC, which is part-owned by Dubai’s ruler.
- Su Jianfeng was able to accumulate a property portfolio of his own, despite a 2017 Chinese arrest warrant for alleged illegal gambling.
- Su Jianfeng and two other members of the alleged money laundering ring –– including one who has already pleaded guilty –– own over $30 million of Dubai real estate, some in projects developed by Emaar and brokered by Fidu.
- Five other men, who are either named in connection with the Singapore case or wanted by Chinese police, also invested heavily in Dubai property. Three of them bought three adjacent floors of a skyscraper opposite the Burj Khalifa.
In an emphatic sign that ambitious young real estate brokerage Fidu Properties had made its mark in Dubai, the company’s logo was emblazoned along the length of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.
The honor in 2019 marked a rapid ascent for Fidu, which had been set up barely two years earlier. Its success was aided by a partnership with Emaar Properties PJSC, Dubai’s largest property developer that is part-owned by the Dubai ruler’s investment vehicle.
Within a few months of opening its Dubai office in 2018, Fidu and Emaar struck a $100-million deal in one of the developer’s luxury projects, The Grand at Dubai Creek Harbour, according to press reports. By 2019, Emaar-built developments accounted for at least 90 percent of Fidu Properties’ sales, according to Fidu press releases.
But in August last year, Su Jianfeng, a key figure behind Fidu, was arrested in Singapore in a dramatic bust of an alleged money laundering ring that has since led to the seizure of more than $2.2 billion in assets. Singapore police have charged 10 people with laundering the proceeds of illegal online gambling and scam operations across southeast Asia. Su Jianfeng was also the subject of a 2017 Chinese arrest warrant for illegal gambling.
Six of the people arrested have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced. Su Jianfeng is in detention in Singapore awaiting trial.
Now, an investigation by OCCRP and The Straits Times, based on leaked property data from Dubai, reveals that Su Jianfeng and two other people arrested in the money laundering case invested more than in Dubai real estate, through projects mostly developed by Emaar and brokered by Fidu.
Three other people named in connection with the case own properties worth over $40 million. One of them shares an address with two men who, like Su Jianfeng, are wanted in China for illegal gambling, and they too own significant real estate assets in Dubai.
While the Singapore bust was widely covered, these Dubai property purchases have not been reported until now. As OCCRP went to press on Su Jianfeng was handed six new forgery charges, including allegations related to five properties in Dubai, of which three appear in the leaked records.
Taken together, the newly-discovered purchases involve over 100 properties, bought for more than $100 million in total, according to the leaked data. They include units comprising entire floors of the Grande Downtown, a luxury skyscraper opposite the Burj Khalifa, worth at last $47 million. The purchases all occurred between October 2019 and October 2020.
While such “high volume property investments” are not “automatically tied to money laundering,” they “can definitely be a red flag,” said Benedikt Hofmann, the deputy representative for Southeast Asia at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Many of the properties identified by reporters were in other flagship Emaar developments in Downtown Dubai, and The Grand at Dubai Creek Harbour, both advertised and marketed by Fidu Properties. (There is no suggestion Emaar knew about Su Jianfeng’s background or his alleged money laundering activities.)
The investments raise questions over whether Dubai’s notoriously light-touch approach to due diligence allowed members of the alleged money laundering ring to move suspect funds into Dubai property.
Alex Cobham, the head of financial transparency campaign group Tax Justice Network, said regulators should have “a requirement to establish the source of funds.” Since 2019, realtors in Dubai have been legally obliged to carry out anti-money laundering risk assessments.
The tie-in with Su Jianfeng and Fidu could be embarrassing for Emaar and, by extension, Dubai’s ruler, Cobham said, but added that the case could serve as a catalyst for improving regulations in the emirate.
“The Royal family is arguably [a victim] of the complete failure of any regulatory standard, and the bad press this generates,” Cobham said. “Either way, it’s on them to change this, as they preside over the entire system.”
