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The empire of Rami Makhlouf, the Syria’s top financier for decades, has been shaken in public by its shaky relationship with President Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting in a battle to restore his authority and revive his economy after nine years of war, in a problem in which family, political and financial interests overlap, according to observers and experts.
After staying out of the spotlight for years, Makhlouf emerged from his silence with data and two videos on his Facebook page that exposed the tension between him and his cousin, the Bashar al-Assad regime, in a battle that analysts they hoped it would have serious consequences for him.
Makhlouf, 51, was seen as one of the pillars of the system economically. The United States and the European Union impose severe sanctions on him for his relationship with the regime.
The Makhlouf crisis began when the summer of 2019, the Syrian authorities put their hands on the “Al-Bustan Association” that he directs, and that formed the “human front” of his actions during the years of the conflict, like the groups armed linked to them.
Last December, the government issued a series of decisions to reserve the movable and immovable funds of several businessmen, including Makhlouf and his wife. They were accused of tax evasion and illegal profits during the 2011 war.
In late October, Assad confirmed that the money would be returned by “everyone who wasted state funds.”
“In Syria, it should always be remembered that anti-corruption campaigns are many but not feasible, and their aim is simply to drop the heads that stand out,” said researcher on Syrian affairs Fabrice Balanche.
Makhlouf and the Syrian President had a friendship since childhood, and when the latter assumed the presidency to succeed his father, Hafez Al-Assad in 2000, Makhlouf was one of the most prominent pillars of the son’s economic opening policy from Assad.
Makhlouf is at the forefront of an economic empire that includes businesses in the telecommunications, electricity and real estate sectors. He runs the Syriatel group, which owns about 70% of the communications market in Syria. It also owns the majority of the shares of various companies, especially “Sham Holding” and “Ramak Investment” and “Ramak for Development and Humanitarian Projects”.
The director of the economic report “Syria Report”, Jihad Yazigi, says that Makhlouf “controlled all sectors, including the largest private sector company in Syria, that is, Syriatel … and there were many sectors where nobody could work without going through it. ” .
“There are no estimates of his wealth, but of course it’s billions of dollars.”
During the years of conflict, Makhlouf’s appearance was very rare, and his last appearance before the most prominent days since his May 2011 interview with the New York Times, in which he said: “It is impossible, and no one can guarantee what can happen, if it’s forbidden. God, something happened to the system. “
Balanch says Makhlouf continued through the war years “to grow his business … and due to shell companies, he was one of the few who managed to evade sanctions for coming to Syria with ships laden with goods.”
Yazji believes that Makhlouf’s departure to the public today is the result of “his feeling of mounting pressure on him to marginalize him,” and noted that he tried “to resist long before throwing out the last newspaper and exposing the family dispute,” stressing that this “It will cost you a lot.”
Makhlouf, who is believed to be in Damascus, opened a new Facebook account last April and posted several statements about him to defend his actions, through two videos this month that were portrayed as a victim of “devices.”
He also went to Assad, describing him as a “safety valve,” and asked him to intervene to save the telecommunications company from collapse, after the government asked him to pay around $ 180 million as part of the treasury fees. .
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Makhlouf accuses
In the second tape, Makhlouf accused the security services of arresting his employees to pressure him to leave their companies. He asked: “Does anyone expect the security services to reach the companies of Rami Makhlouf, who was the greatest defender of these agencies and their greatest sponsor during the war?”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the security forces arrested dozens of “Syriatel” employees.
“The government took a lot of businessmen,” said an Arab diplomatic source in Beirut who is following the file, but “Makhlouf appears to have refused to pay what he was asked for, amid reports that he tried to get money out of the country.”
He points to two main factors behind the Makhlouf case, the first of which is that “it has grown a lot,” and the second is “the urgent need for funds as a result of the economic crisis.”
Media reports also spoke about the role of Asma, Assad’s wife, in the confrontation between the regime and Makhlouf. “It is very difficult to really know what is going on,” Yazigi said, adding that “Asmaa, whose role is growing, may want to secure her future and her son” by eliminating the Makhlouf family, which has long been the first ally. of the Assad family.
The Rami Makhlouf case is not the first in which politics has intertwined with the family in Syria. “Of course, it is a problem at the heart of the regime,” Balanche said, noting that “Assad is overthrowing a relative like his father did with his brother Rifaat,” who forced him to leave the country in 1984.
