According to the British daily Financial Timesdeposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent $250 million in cash to Russia in 2018 and 2019 to pay for military support from Moscow, but also to acquire Russian assets. However, this is only a tiny part of the hidden fortune of the Assad clan, in power in Syria for 50 years.
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According to the documents to which the British daily Financial Times had accessaround twenty plane flights were carried out between Damascus airport and Vnukovo airport, near Moscow, between 2018 and 2019. On board, a total of two tons of 100 dollar and 500 euro notes, as evidenced by the records of ImportGenius, an American company specializing in international trade data.
The money sent by the Central Bank of Syria was intended to pay Russian banks for lending a hand to the Syrian regime.
This data is part of a careful organization put in place by the Syrian autocrat. This opaque device aimed to hide the use of Syrian assetsbanned from the global financial system by international sanctions. To circumvent these sanctions, Bashar al-Assad and his acolytes sent money abroad, starting with Russia.
Syria’s riches plundered
Bashar al-Assad and his relatives have regularly been accused of having plundered Syria’s wealth. At the same time, trafficking in captagon, a synthetic drug popular in the Gulf States, brought in billions of dollars. This money allowed the deposed leader to finance the war and enrich himself personally.
But planes with banknotes sent to Moscow are just a tree hiding the forest. This is precisely an entire system from which the Assad clan has benefited for decades. By interspersing the information gathered by American officials, lawyers and even NGOs, the American daily The Wall Street Journal notes that real estatehotels and bars, private jets, but also assets have been accumulated by the Assads and their relatives between Russia and the Cayman Islands. That passing through SpainSwitzerland, Austria, France, Romania, the Gulf countries and Dubai.
Apartments in Moscow
The Assad family notably has around twenty luxurious apartments located in Moscow. Housing acquired from 2013 via different companies and multiple loan arrangements. According to the Russian business register consulted by FTIyad Makhlouf – former major in the General Directorate of Syrian Intelligence, brother of Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf and maternal cousin of the dictator – established a real estate company Zevelis City in Moscow in May 2022, co-owned with his twin brother Ihab Makhlouf.
The architect of this setup and many others is none other than Mudalal Khoury, a Syrian-Russian businessman and financier with close ties to the Syrian government. Moreover, Mudalal Khoury is himself the subject of sanctions.
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Networks of interests
During more than 50 years of father and son rule, the Assad clan built a network of interests made up of investments and companies established abroad. While it is difficult to assess the Assads’ assets thus constituted, a State Department report gave an estimate in 2022: between 1 billion and 12 billion dollars.
Thus, the lifestyle of the strong man of Syria increased immeasurably, while that of the Syrians was decreasing. More than 95% of the Syrian population currently lives below the poverty line.
Money in financial havens
The hunt for Assad’s billions of dollars began well before the fall of the regime. In 2019, a Paris court froze assets worth 90 million euros held in France by Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of the deposed dictator.
But money transferred to tax havens, or places such as Dubai or Russia, will be much harder to recover. This will take time, and it is not yet clear who should recover these funds if identified.
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