On 27 December 2019, in the midst of a major political crisis, LovinMalta broke the news that the man at the centre of that chaos, Joseph Muscat, was at Malta International airport's VIP lounge, preparing to fly to Dubai.  He was travelling first class with his wife and daughters.

Muscat was still Prime Minister but there was no official announcement of Muscat's trip. The press was given no explanation for Muscat's travel to Dubai in the midst of a political hurricane. The news was confirmed when Michelle Muscat was photographed on the plane to Dubai. An OPM  spokesman refused to state why Muscat needed to be in Dubai, why his trip had been concealed or how long Muscat was planning to stay.

Muscat never gave a credible explanation for his 3-day Dubai family trip while the country was falling apart. It must have been for a very good reason to put his wife and children through it - they spent a fifth of their 70-hour "holiday" in transit.   He never explained why it was kept secret. All we know is that Muscat lied about it, claiming he used "personal private funds" and telling reporters "it's none of your business". In fact a secret Jordanian third party paid 21,000 euro for Muscat's Dubai trip - in cash.

Muscat's obsession with Dubai was always evident.  He made no attempt to hide his infatuation with the glitzy high-rise city.  He promised to "turn Malta into the next Dubai". It looks like he's managed.

Dubai earned the notorious title of the world's new crime capital. Not because of high murder or kidnapping rates. It's because crooks and criminals from around the world made Dubai their second home.  In Dubai they operate with impunity.  They're practically guaranteed to be out of reach of their local authorities.

A leak of Dubai property records, Dubai Uncovered, revealed 274,000 owners of 800,000 properties in Dubai. 191,000 were foreigners. That leak revealed how Dubai became a prize destination for crooked politicians and suspected criminals from around the world.

No wonder. Dubai is the perfect place to do dirty business in. It's a safe haven for politically exposed persons and suspected criminals. That's where 17 Black was set up. That's where Keith Schembri's cousin, Ryan, later charged with money laundering and fraud, escaped to. He was only caught after leaving Dubai and moving to Scotland. Dubai is also where Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri set up secret companies.    

That global investigation exposed Dubai's luxury estate market as a dumping ground for dirty money for criminal elites.  A Swedish investigation covertly recorded one of Dubai's top estate agents declaring that in Dubai buyers aren't asked to prove the provenance of their money. "It's not our concern - our concern is just what you want to buy," the agent replied. 

Dubai is a hub for hiding illicit gains.  There's no tax in Dubai and therefore a lot of the mechanisms used by other countries to track illicit movement of funds don't exist there.

In an interview in May 2024 on ONE Radio, Muscat revealed that he had been accused of illicitly earning 16 million euro a year and hiding that money in Dubai.  "When I tried looking for this money, the inquiry said they couldn't find it but that I will still be charged," Muscat commented.

Money hidden in Dubai is hardly ever found, except when the OCCRP exposed how dozens of the world's corrupt officials, politicians and worst villains bought property in Dubai. Their investigation pinpointed the properties belonging to some of the world's most unscrupulous people - a veritable roll call of the crooked, criminal and corrupt.

It highlighted how the UAE plays a central role as the pirate capital of the world - a place where anyone, good, bad, corrupt, full-on criminal can operate with impunity. Professor Jodi Vitori, a Georgetown University professor, and a corruption and illicit wealth expert commented "Underworld criminals aren't just allowed into Dubai, they're embraced.... the flow of their dirty money underpins the booming real estate market. Dirty money is what keeps Dubai the bright and shiny metropolis that it is". 

If you're laundering a great deal of money you're going to need a robust real estate market. You can't do that with any other type of asset, except maybe gold and art.

Dubai has long had one of the hottest estate markets - a desert dream for property developers. The last 50 years saw an explosion of high-end luxury properties - and that provides plenty of opportunities for money laundering.

Muscat's dream of making Malta the new Dubai has come true judging by the massive increase in high-end luxury property development on the island. Property prices have rocketed in a decade. Luxury condos have mushroomed.  Labour is busy ensuring that the boom in luxury property development continues - from Shoreline, to DB's ITS development, to Fort Chambray, to Mercury towers. Labour's even changing planning laws against the public will to make it easier for developers to build those properties.

Muscat privately met Hussain Sajwani, the chairman of DAMAC, a giant Dubai developer and gave him a tour of Malta to encourage him to expand his company's massive development activities to Malta. Sajwani had teamed up with Donald Trump to build the only Trump international Golf club in the Middle East.

For years, Muscat's Labour ensured that dodgy multi-millionaires could not just buy their luxury properties but could also purchase citizenship. Muscat personally went to Dubai to hawk Maltese passports just one week after Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination.

Like Dubai, Malta not only has obscenely expensive properties but also the legislation to ensure no money launderer ever gets convicted.  Unexplained wealth orders are not on Malta's statute books. The double whammy of an incompetent under-resourced police force and an Attorney General under the thumb of the ruling part ensured that Muscat's dream of turning Malta into the new Dubai was fulfilled. Malta, like Dubai, gained a worldwide dirty money reputation. Muscat even managed to get Malta greylisted before Dubai.

When a Swedish TV reporter asked Dubai's top estate agent how it's possible for foreigners to pay for their luxury properties in cash, he replied "they bring their cash with them in big bags... Dubai is like a movie, if you're corrupt you'll feel comfortable here".

Indeed.  Joseph Muscat felt so comfortable in Dubai that he chose the glitzy Persian desert city to escape to during the turmoil of December 2019.

"It's one of the attractions - that's why people keep coming. They can keep their money safe no matter how they got it," the estate agent commented. One thing's certain, there is one man who keeps coming to Dubai - and that's Joseph Muscat.