LONDON: Authorities in the Syrian Arab Republic said they have uncovered a corruption case from the era of the Assad regime worth more than $8 million, as legal and security agencies in the country pursue individuals and organizations involved in violations and crimes against Syrians.
Anticorruption agency the Central Organization for Financial Control found a 2021 contract at the state-owned Real Estate Bank that resulted in $8.454 million in financial damage to the public purse during modernization of the firm’s banking systems, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Investigators discovered the bank had obtained, without the approval of its board of directors, exceptions from the office of the former prime minister that granted a contracted company unjustified exemptions from penalties for delays, and cash payments instead of bank transfers.
The investigators did not disclose the name of the company that modernized the systems. The bank’s director general, deputy director, legal affairs director, financial director, foreign relations director and other officials are under investigation, the news agency said.
The Real Estate Bank is the second-largest bank in Syria and is owned by the government’s Public Debt Fund. Corruption was widespread during the Assad era and a major factor behind the antigovernment protests that began in 2011 and sparked civil war.
When President Bashar Assad was toppled and his regime collapsed in December 2024, the new authorities in Damascus audited public institutions and state-owned companies and have uncovered several cases of corruption.
