Dubai royal bought island, villas from Taghi accomplice Raffaele Imperiale: report

A member of Dubai’s royal family has done business with Raffaele Imperiale - a well-known accomplice of Dutch criminal kingpin Ridouan Taghi and one of the biggest drug traffickers in the world. Sheikh Marwan al Maktoum, son of the emir of Dubai, allegedly purchased majority shares of an island and the development of villas from Imperiale, according to research by RTL Nieuws, OCCRP, and IrpiMedia. The deal involved tens of millions of euros.

The November 2015 deal made Al Maktoum a 51 percent shareholder of AA Real Estate Development, the broadcaster reported. The company is developing five luxury villas on Palm Jumeirah, an island in the shape of a palm tree off the coast of Dubai.

The other signature on that contract is Raffaele Imperiale - one of the largest drug traffickers in the world. “It is the first time that business ties have been proven between the royal family of Dubai and a drug criminal,” RTL Nieuws wrote.

At the time the Al Maktoum signed the contract, there was no doubt about Imperiale’s criminal status. Spain and Italy had already requested his extradition for drug crimes. The Dubai police arrested Imperiale in August 2021 and extradited him to Italy a year later. There, Imperiale turned state evidence, testifying on his criminal past and ties for a reduced sentence.

None of the parties involved responded to questions from RTL Nieuws about the deal.

“It is common practice to do due diligence in these types of deals,” Matthew T. Page, a leading corruption expert at the Chatham House think tank who has previously studied Dubai, told the broadcaster. “In this case, a Google search would have set off alarm bells.”