Tax evasion

====United Arab Emirates====
In early October 2021, 11.9 million leaked financial records in addition to 2.9 TB of data was released in the name of [[Pandora Papers]] by the [[International Consortium of Investigative Journalists]] (ICIJ), exposing the secret offshore accounts of around 35 world leaders in [[tax haven]]s to evade taxes. One of the many leaders to be exposed was the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh [[Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum]]. Sheikh Mohammed was identified as the shareholder of three firms that were registered in the tax havens of [[Bahamas]] and [[British Virgin Islands]] through an Emirati company, partially owned by an investment conglomerate, Dubai Holding and Axiom Limited, major shares of which were owned by the ruler.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://themedialine.org/headlines/world-leaders-including-jordans-abdullah-uaes-sheikh-mohammed-found-in-pandora-papers/|title=World Leaders, Including Jordan's Abdullah, UAE's Sheikh Mohammed Found in Pandora Papers|accessdate=4 October 2021|website=The Media Line|date=4 October 2021 }}</ref>

As per the leaked records, the Dubai ruler owned a massive number of upmarket and luxurious real estate across Europe via the cited offshore entities registered in tax havens.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pandora-papers-uae-dubai-ruler-sheikh-mohammed-offshore-companies|title=Pandora Papers: The offshore companies of UAE's Sheikh Mohammed|accessdate=4 October 2021|website=Middle East Eye}}</ref>

Additionally, the Pandora Papers also cites that the former Managing Director of [[IMF]] and French finance minister, [[Dominique Strauss-Kahn]] was permitted to create a consulting firm in the United Arab Emirates in 2018 after the expiry of tax exemptions of his Moroccan company, which he used for receiving millions of dollars worth of tax free consulting fees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/pandora-papers-europe-tony-blair-andrej-babis-milo-dukanovic-volodymyr-zelenskiy-wopke-hoekstra-john-dalli-dominique-strauss-kahn/|title=Meet the European leaders named in the Pandora Papers|accessdate=4 October 2021|website=Politico|date=4 October 2021 }}</ref>