Dubai: Conflict Gold, Money Laundering and Illicit Global Trade

This chapter considers the role that the UAE, and Dubai in particular, has played in the gold trade between Asia, Europe, and Africa. In the twenty-first century, Dubai has rapidly emerged as one of the principal focal points in the illicit gold trade and money laundering. Many authors who have focused on African gold production have focused almost solely on Dubai as an export market for African gold, but this approach is flawed because the country has no LBMA accredited refinery, therefore, gold from Dubai must be reprocessed in other countries in order for it to enter the global value chain, irrespective of its provenance. Dubai has evolved not only as a gold trading centre but also as the money-laundering centre of choice in the international financial system, where gold is and remains one of the most important commodities used to launder other illicit funds. Money laundering is a very substantial business, and gold, because of its high value in weight, its ready portability and the existence of global markets with known prices along with intractability has become a key component of the global system of money laundering. Much of the analysis of the African trade in gold has focused on Dubai as it has rapidly evolved as the principal centre of trade in physical gold between Africa and the rest of the world. However, Dubai is itself an entrepôt of significance where gold is purchased from Africa as well as other regions and then laundered to third jurisdictions. Thus the Africa-Dubai trade cannot be viewed in isolation but rather as part of a global network that crosses Asia, Europe and the Middle East.