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Spotlight, Spy Way of Life | UAE
The plush Dubai skyscraper at the centre of the Middle East investigations sector

Subscribers only By Michael Sweeney

Published on 03.10.2025 at 04:00 GMT 3 min read Lire en français

The Index Tower in Dubai. © Obstando Images/Alamy

Across the globe, spies love to gather in inconspicuous dens to meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online takes a snoop around Index Tower, in the Dubai International Financial Centre, where corporate sleuths rub shoulders in the lifts while competing for engagements on the biggest legal fights in the region.

If you work in corporate investigations in Dubai, the chances are you have been, or will soon go to, Index Tower. This eighty-storey monolith rising out the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) represents the epicentre of the city's now world-leading commercial disputes industry.

Designed by Fosters & Partners architects, the tower faces slightly at an angle to the incoming traffic on Sheikh Zayed Road, as though happy to keep a low profile among the city's flashier skyscrapers. It is home

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