AMMAN: Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf revealed on Sunday he had set up a web of offshore front companies to help President Bashar al Assad evade Western sanctions, in a social media post blasting the government for investigating his business empire.
One of Syria’s richest and most powerful businessmen, Makhlouf said security forces were now targeting Cham Holding, the centerpiece of a vast business portfolio much of which has been seized by the cash-strapped government.
The former Assad loyalist who is also a cousin of the president said security forces were pursuing contracts signed by Cham Holding on suspicion he had embezzled funds abroad.
“They fabricated our embezzlement of funds and transferring it to our accounts abroad ... Stop these unjust claims and read well the contracts,” Makhlouf said in a Facebook post.
“These companies’ role and aim is to circumvent (Western) sanctions on Cham Holding.”
Makhlouf, who has helped bankroll the ruling family and its supporters, brought in 70 investors nearly 15 years ago to set up Cham Holding. It is the largest Syrian company by capital and has a monopoly on key property developments.
Washington enacted sweeping sanctions on Syria last month known as the Caesar Act targeting new lists of individuals and companies who support Assad’s government, among them entities owned by Makhlouf.
Makhlouf’s estrangement with Assad first came to the open on April 30 when he denounced taxes imposed on Syriatel, the country’s main mobile company which the Makhlouf family controls.
He later blasted the “inhumane” arrests of his aides in an unprecedented attack on the government from within Assad’s inner circle, exposing a deep rift within the ruling elite. He added that he would not surrender his wealth under intimidation.
Businessmen and insiders familiar with the struggle say Assad is targeting Makhlouf’s wealth abroad as Syria’s economy collapses after a decade of war. Most of his onshore assets have been seized while his contracts to manage and operate duty free markets were abrogated.
The billionaire and others close to him are under US sanctions for what Washington calls public corruption.
The European Union has also slapped sanctions on Makhlouf since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, accusing him of bankrolling Assad.
Syrian tycoon says front companies used to dodge sanctions as rift with Assad widens
https://arab.news/8pq4b
Syrian tycoon says front companies used to dodge sanctions as rift with Assad widens
- Makhlouf has helped bankroll Syria's ruling family and its supporters
- He brought in 70 investors nearly 15 years ago to set up Cham Holding
UN-sanctioned migrant smuggler killed in western Libya
- Libyan authorities report that a notorious militia leader, Ahmed Oumar Al-Fitouri Al-Dabbashi, was killed in a raid by security forces on Friday
- In 2018, the UN and US sanctioned him for controlling migrant departure areas and exposing migrants to fatal conditions
CAIRO: A notorious militia leader in Libya, sanctioned by the UN for migrant trafficking across the Mediterranean Sea, was killed on Friday in a raid by security forces in the west of the country, according to Libyan authorities.
Ahmed Oumar Al-Fitouri Al-Dabbashi, nicknamed Ammu, was killed in the western city of Sabratha when security forces raided his hideout. The raid came in response to an attack on a security outpost by Al-Dabbashi’s militia, which left six members of the security forces severely wounded, according to a statement issued by the Security Threat Enforcement Agency, a security entity affiliated with Libya’s western government.
Al-Dabbashi, who was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for trafficking, was the leader of a powerful militia, the “Brigade of the Martyr Anas Al-Dabbashi,” in Sabratha, the biggest launching point in Libya for Europe-bound African migrants.
Al-Dabbashi’s brother Saleh Al-Dabbashi, another alleged trafficker, was arrested in the same raid, added the statement.
In June 2018, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Al-Dabbashi, along with another five Libyan traffickers. At the time, the UN report said that there was enough evidence that Al-Dabbashi’s militia controlled departure areas for migrants, camps, safe houses and boats.
Al-Dabbashi himself exposed migrants, including children, to “fatal circumstances” on land and at sea, and of threatening peace and stability in Libya and neighboring countries, according to the same report.
Al-Dabbashi was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for the same reason.
Libya has been a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The country was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The country has been fragmented for years between rival administrations based in the east and the west of Libya, each backed by various armed militias and foreign governments.
