How We Investigate the UAE’s Global Financial Network
We deploy a multi-layered, interdisciplinary research approach that merges cutting-edge financial analysis with grassroots investigative techniques. By fusing empirical data, insider intelligence, and digital forensics, we produce research that is both deeply informed and strategically actionable.
Comprehensive Data Collection Across Multiple Sectors
Our research begins with wide-ranging data aggregation from verified and authoritative sources. These include:
Government and corporate registries
International investment databases
Public filings and financial disclosures
Procurement records and trade databases
Legal documents and court filings
This multi-source approach allows us to chart the scope of the UAE’s financial reach, including its direct control over sovereign wealth funds, private equity firms, real estate conglomerates, defense contractors, and a vast network of front and shell companies.
We meticulously map these assets and entities, identifying how they function as instruments of geopolitical leverage and influence operations in countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, France, Kenya, Egypt, India, China, and Indonesia.
Financial Forensics and Tracing Hidden Wealth
Our team uses advanced financial forensics to dismantle the architecture of secrecy that often shields UAE-linked assets. This includes:
Mapping complex corporate ownership structures
Tracing cross-border money flows and offshore transactions
Investigating beneficial ownership hidden behind nominees
Identifying convergence points between private entities and state institutions
By following the money, we expose how the UAE consolidates economic power in key sectors—particularly real estate, ports, telecommunications, media, and extractive industries. Many of these acquisitions serve not only commercial but also strategic military or surveillance functions under the guise of civilian investment.
OSINT, Leaks, and Whistleblower Collaborations
We integrate Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) techniques to mine public records, investigative journalism, leaked files, and whistleblower documents. Where traditional data falls short, first-hand insider accounts fill the gap. Our collaborations with whistleblowers—corporate insiders, financial analysts, and former diplomats—offer a rare window into covert transactions and undisclosed partnerships.
These confidential sources enable us to identify:
Undeclared investments through proxy actors
Off-the-record dealings with sanctioned regimes
Hidden funding in political lobbying and media manipulation
Covert support for security and intelligence operations abroad
Every claim is subjected to rigorous cross-referencing, ensuring our findings meet the highest standards of journalistic and academic integrity.
Geographic Focus and Strategic Prioritization
While our campaign monitors UAE-linked financial activity in 38 countries, we prioritize countries where its economic influence poses the greatest risk to democratic institutions, regulatory sovereignty, and grassroots economic stability. These include:
Western democracies (UK, USA, France, Germany), where lobbying and media ownership enable political manipulation
Emerging markets (Egypt, Kenya, Indonesia), where investment is tied to debt diplomacy and resource extraction
Conflict-affected regions (Libya, Sudan, Yemen), where financial flows often support militarized or authoritarian interests
By placing these operations in geopolitical context, we help local communities, journalists, and policy advocates understand how foreign financial control translates into domestic repression or corporate monopolization.
A Dynamic, Transparent, and Evolving Research Process
Unlike static reports, our research is continuously updated in response to real-time developments. We monitor new asset acquisitions, policy shifts, and corporate restructurings—especially those used to evade international scrutiny or sanctions. This enables us to respond dynamically and update our publications, briefings, and exposés to reflect the current reality.
Transparency is at the heart of our credibility. Wherever possible, we cite data sources, document research methods, and offer footnoted or annotated material for independent verification. This fosters trust among journalists, researchers, activists, and affected communities globally.
Empowering Action Through Intelligence
The International Boycott UAE Campaign is more than a documentation effort—it is a call to action. By equipping civil society with detailed, actionable intelligence, we aim to:
Mobilize international pressure against state-corporate impunity
Protect grassroots economies from UAE-led monopolization
Disrupt covert economic operations that fund authoritarianism, surveillance, or war
Support local resistance against economic displacement and debt dependency
Through radical transparency, forensic scrutiny, and solidarity with whistleblowers and activists, we expose the hidden architecture of the UAE’s global financial power—and organize to dismantle it.
