Cross-border investigations
Two paths to uncovering assets held abroad
When a debtor, business partner, or spouse is suspected of parking wealth outside the UAE, the question is rarely whether the assets exist. The question is whether you can prove they do, in a form a court will accept. You have two realistic paths: build the case yourself from public sources, or bring in a specialist firm that can query registries, banks, and government bodies on your behalf.
What actually gets hidden
The most common shapes of concealed wealth
Assets rarely disappear. They move. From a UAE vantage point, the recurring patterns show up in a handful of forms: shareholdings in offshore holding companies (BVI, Cayman, Seychelles, Jersey), real estate held through nominee directors, trust structures in Guernsey or Singapore, art and gold stored in free ports, and bank accounts in jurisdictions with slow information exchange. Cryptocurrency wallets are now common too, especially where the person once had access to a UAE exchange account.
Before choosing a path, you need to know what you are looking for. A former business partner suspected of siphoning cash is a different investigation from a spouse hiding a Portuguese villa. The narrower the hypothesis, the cheaper and cleaner the search.
DIY open-source research vs a professional firm
Open-source research (you or in-house counsel)
- Free or low cost, useful for a first sweep
- Good for named companies in transparent registries (UK Companies House, EU beneficial ownership portals where still accessible)
- Court records, insolvency notices, and press coverage often surface real leads
- You keep full control of what is disclosed and to whom
- Ideal when the value at stake does not justify a five-figure investigation fee
Professional asset tracing firm
- Access to paid databases (LexisNexis, Sayari, Dun & Bradstreet, Orbis)
- Can issue formal requests to registries and banking regulators through licensed channels
- Deliverables are structured for court use, with chain-of-custody notes and sworn affidavits where needed
- Higher cost, typically AED 30,000 upwards for a cross-border matter
- Necessary once the trail crosses opaque jurisdictions or leads to nominee structures
Most serious cases end up as a hybrid: you (or your lawyer) do the first pass to confirm the trail is real, then a specialist takes over once the leads point offshore. Running sanctions screening on the subject and any linked entities is almost always worthwhile early, because a hit can redirect the entire investigation and open new legal routes.
Path A
When to start with open-source research
Pick this path when the target operates under their own name in reasonably transparent countries. A surprising amount of information is a few searches away. The UK, most of the EU, Australia, Canada, and Singapore publish enough corporate data that a careful analyst can map directorships, shareholdings, and charges without a single paid database.
Concrete starting points:
- Company registries: UK Companies House, Singapore ACRA, Dubai DIFC public register, ADGM public register. Cross-reference director names and addresses.
- Land registries: Dubai Land Department offers a portal for verifying UAE holdings; several European countries publish ownership on request for a small fee.
- Court and insolvency records: bankruptcy filings often list assets a person swore they did not own. The ICIJ Offshore Leaks database remains a useful free tool.
- News archives and litigation press: real estate purchases and business acquisitions are frequently reported before they hit any public register.
Document everything as you go. Screenshots with URLs and timestamps, PDFs of register extracts, and a running index. Anything you might later hand to a UAE court needs to be reproducible.
Path B
When you need a specialist firm
Bring in professionals once the trail hits any of the classic dead ends: nominee directors in a BVI company, a trust with unnamed beneficiaries, a bank account in a jurisdiction that requires a court order to disclose, or a target who clearly knows how to structure around casual searches.
A reputable asset tracing firm will typically do four things you cannot easily do alone. First, run the subject through commercial databases that aggregate corporate filings, litigation, sanctions, and adverse media across hundreds of jurisdictions. Second, engage licensed local agents to pull physical documents from registries that are not online, common across the GCC and parts of Africa. Third, coordinate with UAE lawyers to prepare Norwich Pharmacal or Bankers Trust style disclosure applications in supportive jurisdictions such as the DIFC or English courts. Fourth, deliver a report that a judge can rely on, not a memo full of unverifiable claims.
Expect to sign a scoping engagement first. A serious firm will not quote a fixed price without understanding whether they are chasing a UK flat or a Panamanian foundation.
The strongest asset tracing report is the one you never have to explain in court. Every line cites a source, every source is retrievable, and the conclusions follow from the evidence rather than the other way round.
Turning findings into something a court will accept
Even the best research is worthless if it cannot be introduced into evidence. UAE courts, including the onshore civil courts and the DIFC and ADGM commercial courts, expect documents to be properly authenticated. Foreign registry extracts usually need notarisation and, depending on the country of origin, either apostille under the Hague Apostille Convention or full legalisation through the relevant embassy and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Capture the source cleanly. Original PDF from the registry, not a screenshot of a screenshot.
- Get certified translations. UAE courts require Arabic translations by a Ministry of Justice licensed translator.
- Authenticate the document. Apostille where available, consular legalisation where not.
- Preserve the chain of custody. Note who obtained the document, when, and how.
- Match evidence to legal theory. A shareholding on its own does not prove concealment. Pair it with the disclosure the target made (or failed to make) in prior filings or affidavits.
A realistic budget and timeline
A first-pass open-source review for a single individual with suspected interests in two or three countries can be done in two to four weeks by an experienced paralegal. A full professional investigation across five or more jurisdictions, including registry pulls and interviews with local sources, usually runs three to six months. Litigation-grade tracing tied to a live court case can extend to a year, particularly if disclosure orders are needed against banks or corporate service providers.
Match spend to the recoverable amount. There is no honest reason to spend AED 200,000 tracing an asset worth AED 300,000 unless the case has strategic value beyond the money.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to investigate someone’s hidden assets from the UAE?
Yes, provided you rely on lawful sources: public registries, court records, licensed database subscriptions, and formal disclosure requests through the courts. Hacking accounts, buying stolen banking data, or bribing officials is illegal in the UAE and in almost every jurisdiction you would target. A reputable investigator will always work within these limits, which is one of the practical reasons to hire one.
How much does professional asset tracing cost?
Costs vary widely with scope. A focused open-source report on one individual across two or three countries can start around AED 15,000 to 25,000. A multi-jurisdiction investigation with registry pulls, local agents, and a court-ready report typically runs AED 50,000 to 200,000. Complex tracing tied to active litigation can exceed that once disclosure applications are involved.
Can I get a foreign bank to disclose an account?
Not directly. Banks disclose only under court order or regulatory request. The usual route is a disclosure application (in the UAE, DIFC, ADGM, or a supportive foreign court) against the bank once you have credible evidence the account exists. This is why the earlier tracing work matters: without a specific institution and a plausible link, no court will grant such an order.
What if the assets are held through a trust or nominee?
Trusts and nominees are the point where DIY research usually stops. You will need a specialist to identify the settlor and beneficiaries, often by combining corporate filings, leaked datasets, and targeted disclosure applications against trustees or corporate service providers. Some jurisdictions, notably BVI and Cayman, have specific procedures for piercing this veil in fraud cases.
Do UAE courts recognise evidence gathered abroad?
They can, but the documents must be authenticated. That means notarisation in the country of origin, apostille or consular legalisation, and a certified Arabic translation. DIFC and ADGM courts, which operate in English under common law principles, apply a slightly more flexible standard, but the underlying authentication requirements still apply.
How long does an asset tracing investigation take?
A first-pass open-source review typically takes two to four weeks. A full cross-border investigation runs three to six months. If the case involves court-ordered disclosure or resistance from the target, it can extend beyond a year. Investigators should give you a rough timeline at the scoping stage and update it as leads develop.
Should I tell the target I am investigating?
Almost never before you have preserved the evidence and, where relevant, obtained freezing orders. Assets move quickly once a target realises they are being examined. Any communication about the investigation should be coordinated with your lawyer and timed around procedural steps, not driven by frustration or negotiation pressure.
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