Pakistan’s NAB Engages UAE Authorities to Tackle Money Laundering and Offshore Asset Abuse

Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is in discussions with authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to strengthen cooperation against money laundering and illegal offshore asset holdings, according to officials speaking at a press conference on Tuesday.

NAB officials said the engagement focuses on expanding mutual legal assistance mechanisms to trace, freeze, and repatriate assets allegedly acquired through illicit means and held outside Pakistan. The initiative reflects growing scrutiny of cross-border financial flows involving Pakistani nationals with significant asset exposure in the UAE.

Pakistan maintains a large diaspora in the UAE, which remains a key source of remittances. At the same time, authorities have long raised concerns about Pakistani individuals owning high-value residential and commercial properties in the Gulf state without identifiable income sources or business activities there.

Offshore Asset Concerns and Legal Cooperation

In 2018, Pakistan’s Supreme Court reviewed a report prepared by chartered accountancy firm A.F. Ferguson, which estimated that Pakistani nationals held approximately $150 billion in properties and assets in the UAE. The report was submitted as part of a case examining illegal offshore wealth.

NAB Director General (Operations) Amjad Majeed Aulakh said a delegation of NAB officials is expected to travel to Dubai in the coming weeks to formalize cooperation through a memorandum of understanding with the UAE Accountability Authority (UAEAA). He said both sides have already conducted multiple rounds of discussions to finalize the agreement.

According to Aulakh, the proposed framework will enable closer coordination on corruption-related investigations, asset tracing, and enforcement actions across jurisdictions.

Asset Recovery and Enforcement Tools

NAB officials said Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency has already signed multiple mutual legal assistance agreements with foreign governments and is actively working with international enforcement networks, including INTERPOL, the Global Operational Network of Law Enforcement Agencies (GlobE), and the Asset Recovery Interagency Network – Asia Pacific (ARIN-AP).

NAB Deputy Chairman Sohail Nasir said the bureau recovered Rs6.213 trillion ($22 billion) in illicit assets during 2025 alone, contributing to total recoveries of Rs11.524 trillion ($41 billion) over the past three years. These recoveries included approximately 2.98 million acres of encroached state and forest land.

Crypto and Financial Crime Monitoring

Officials also said NAB is strengthening its capacity to investigate complex financial crimes, including the use of cryptocurrency to evade detection and monitoring. Aulakh said individuals who use digital assets for money laundering or corruption are often identified when they attempt to convert those assets into movable or immovable property.

He added that investigations are increasingly supported by artificial intelligence-assisted analytics, blockchain analysis, and digital forensics, reflecting a broader shift toward technology-driven enforcement.

The engagement between Pakistan and UAE authorities underscores the growing emphasis among regulators on cross-border cooperation to address financial crime, particularly as illicit fund flows increasingly rely on offshore structures and digital assets. As enforcement agencies expand technical capabilities and legal coordination, scrutiny of offshore wealth and crypto-related financial activity is expected to intensify.