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It appears that the smuggling and money laundering operations carried out by Hezbollah militia leaders, whose mastermind was the leader of the “Hassan Nasrallah” party, which was able, according to the “Global Counter Terrorism” report, to allocate funds in various accounts outside Lebanon estimated at 1.6 Billion, like the rest of the system of politicians accused of corruption in Lebanon.
The report “Global Combating Terrorism” talks about the “Doomsday” scenario, according to which Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will be forced to flee and disappear. According to information from various sources, the money destined to achieve this disappearance comes from a somewhat fraudulent operation that involves transferring large sums of money to accounts abroad that have been transferred to his family and friends. By various estimates, Nasrallah has managed to reserve funds in various accounts outside of Lebanon estimated at $ 1.6 billion.
So Plan B or the “Resurrection Scenario” as it is known in the calculations of the leader of the Hezbollah militia Hassan Nasrallah for years, according to various sources.
This forced plan, which includes running away and disappearing, was allocated huge funds from fraudulent operations that include transferring large sums of money to accounts abroad, most of which are for his close family.
Hashem Safi El-Din
These funds were estimated at $ 1.6 billion in various accounts outside of Lebanon. As for their sources, they are varied, being the first direct transfers from the budget of Hezbollah or the various companies and militia financiers, and of course the source of some of them is Iranian. The second lies in the theft of funds directly from the Lebanese state, whereby Hezbollah-affiliated politicians transfer the funds through party-led committees in parliament and then are transferred out of Lebanon.
“The scene of the resurrection”
These operations are carried out by close associates of Nasrallah, such as family members or high-ranking figures in Hezbollah. There are two prominent figures Nasrallah fully trusts to implement this scheme, the first is his cousin and the second in leadership, Hashem Safi al-Din.
Using his position as head of the Hezbollah Executive Council and as a prominent member of the “Jihad Council”, Safi al-Din gives direct orders to Hezbollah MPs to steal funds.
But the second person to lavish money on the “smuggler’s fund” is Nasrallah’s son’s horse, due to his good ties to the outside world, according to sources. Furthermore, Jawad acts as a counterweight to “Safi al-Din” in case the latter turns against him.
The third person is Ashraf Safi El-Din, an attorney with offices in Beirut and California with experience building corporate structures for Hezbollah around the world that launder money on their behalf.
These corporate structures receive accounting services from the world-renowned accounting firm.
Jawad Nasrallah
Four front companies
And the money is diverted to various places, including Latin America. The funds are transferred through exchange offices in Brazil and Paraguay. The person in charge of this operation is Asaad Ahmad Barakat. After the latter’s activities were revealed, other members of the Barakat family took over. Once the money is transferred to the region, it is transferred by the Barakat family’s brokers and deposited in various bank accounts in Brazil and Paraguay. While some of the funds are held in Brazil, others are transferred to various bank accounts in Switzerland managed by one of Hezbollah’s European assets.
The second is in West Africa. The center is located in Liberia under the supervision of Qasim Hajij, a local magnate. The money gets there in several ways: first, through a secret bank account at MEAB Bank in Beirut in Hajij’s name. From this bank account, Nasrallah’s money destined for the “Resurrection Scenario” is transferred to a bank account in Côte d’Ivoire, where a customer withdraws cash and crosses the border into Liberia. The other way is to transfer cash on Middle East Airlines flights to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and cross the border into Liberia. In Liberia, half of the cash is stored in a safe house and the other half is deposited in a local bank account.
The third is Hong Kong. Where no less than four foreign shell companies were established in the field of real estate, import and export. One of the companies that we know of is that one of them is a company called “Unique Stars International Limited”, controlled by the Amhaz brothers, a well-known financier of Hezbollah.
Corruption and theft operations
“The little we know about this particular pathway is that funds are being transferred to these companies from Beirut with the help of KPMG accountants,” the report says.
The fourth and final corporate structure is in the United States. Ashraf Safi El Din has opened dozens of companies in the past that deal primarily with real estate. For the purposes of this special corporate structure, Safi El Din acquired two bankrupt US real estate companies.
The funds are transferred to these companies from Lebanon to another Ashraf al-Din company in the United States called “Premiere Equities and Investment Group Inc” and from these companies the funds make their way in small amounts (less than $ 10,000) to an account in Europe by the name of Ashraf.
