Urgent.. The interim Syrian Prime Minister reveals gold safes and warehouses in…"Cellars" Central Bank
In an exceptional statement, the interim Syrian Prime Minister, Muhammad al-Bashir, confirmed that his government does not possess any foreign currency, stressing that what remains in the treasury is “the Syrian pound, which is worth nothing.”
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This statement reinforced the allegations that the former Syrian regime stole all of the country’s money and gold reserves before its fall.
As Ahmed confirmed, Al-Sharaa “Abu Muhammad al-Julani,” commander of the military operations department in Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, said last Saturday that there is a real economic tragedy, and that there are plans to deal with it after taking control of the reins of power, as the collection of Data.
Money and gold: ambiguity and lack of transparency
From the analysis of monetary and gold reserve data, and from reviewing the documents available in open sources, it appears that the Central Bank of Syria did not It has been publishing data on its reserves for more than a decade, and it is not clear how large they are.
According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis, Syria’s reserves amounted to $18.5 billion in 2010, that is, before the outbreak of the revolution. Syria.
As for gold reserves, the World Gold Council reported that in June 2011, Syria possessed 25.82 tons of the precious metal, equivalent to 12% of the Central Bank’s reserves.
These remained. Reserves are healthy until the first quarter of the year, according to data from the World Gold Council.
On the other hand, the Western press continued its hobby of tarnishing the reputation of every Arab ruler who leaves power, as the Wall Street Journal reported JournalBecause with the collapse of the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, a global hunt began for billions of dollars in cash and secret assets belonging to the family.
This hunt may be long.
The newspaper claimed that the Assad family built a A wide network of investments and business interests over the past decades since Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970.
The Wall Street Journal quoted former American officials, lawyers and research organizations that investigated the family’s origins. They said that among the purchases made by relatives of his son, former President Bashar al-Assad, abroad currently, there is luxury real estate in Russia, luxury hotels in Russia, Vienna and a private plane in Dubai.
Andrew Tabler, an official, said. Former White House staffer, who learned about Assad’s assets through US sanctions enforcement work: "The hunt for Assad regime assets will be global," They always had a backup plan and are now well prepared for life in exile".
Left Lion Syria on December 8 when armed militias quickly entered the capital, Damascus, ending his 24-year rule.
Bashar al-Assad’s rule came after nearly three decades of the leadership of his father, Hafez al-Assad. According to the Wall Street Journal, both leaders used their relatives to hide their assets abroad.
According to a 2022 US State Department report, it is currently impossible to clarify the exact size of the Assad family’s assets as well as who controls them. Although it is difficult to determine Companies and assets linked to the Assad family His wealth is estimated at no less than one billion US dollars and could reach 12 billion US dollars.
The report said that the income comes from state monopolies and drug trafficking and is partially reinvested in areas outside the scope of international law.< /p>
The report said that many powerful figures in the family have a commercial mentality, especially Mrs. Asma, Bashar al-Assad’s wife. She previously worked at JP Morgan.
Decades of Accumulation
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Assad family began amassing wealth immediately after Hafez al-Assad came to power
The Wall Street Journal quoted Ayman Abdel Nour, a university friend of Bashar al-Assad, as saying that Hafez appointed his son-in-law Muhammad Makhlouf, who was then a lowly airline employee, in charge of monopolizing the lucrative tobacco import into the country. The country.
Makhlouf received large commissions thanks to the boom in the construction sector. When Bashar succeeded his father as leader in 2000, Makhlouf transferred the business empire to his son Rami.
William Bourdon, a lawyer involved in the 2019 Assad family assets freeze lawsuit in Paris, said that the Makhlouf family is expected to be the factor that It generates money and provides funding for the family when necessary.
Bordon said: “The Makhlouf family is a housekeeper for the Assad family.”
And Rami Makhlouf became It later became the main sponsor of the Assad regime, with assets in banking, media, duty-free markets, aviation, and telecommunications, worth up to $10 billion, according to the US State Department. The US government imposed sanctions on Makhlouf in 2008. In addition, the Makhlouf family also invests abroad.
They bought real estate in Dubai worth about $3.9 million, including villas on the Palm Island, according to a 2018 study. Center for Advanced Defense Studies, based in Washington.
A note on the background of the news: Western media is accustomed to fabricating fictitious stories about Arab rulers stealing their people’s money. Hosni did it. Mubarak in Egypt when the British newspaper The Guardian claimed that Mubarak’s wealth was $75 billion during the chaos of January 25, 2011, with the aim of igniting chaos in the Egyptian street, and the same happened with Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, and later investigations proved that they were all lies.
The Financial Times newspaper claimed on Sunday that the Assad regime smuggled $250 million to Russia, even though Syria owes the Russian Federation $ 50 billion dollars, and this money was paid dues to Russia.
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