Al-Sharaa closes his brother’s office in central Damascus and strips employees of luxury cars

Reuters reported that during an unannounced meeting, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa ordered state employees who own luxury cars to hand over their keys or face investigations for graft.

According to the ministry, Al-Sharaa joked: “I did not know that the government’s salaries were this huge!” This came after more than a hundred of his loyalists arrived at his former opposition base, many of whom came aboard luxury sports cars such as Cadillac Escalade, Range Rover, and Chevrolet Tahoe.

Al-Sharaa rebuked the officials and businessmen present, saying: “Have you forgotten that you are children of the revolution? Have you been tempted by the world so quickly?”, according to what two people who attended the meeting reported.

The meeting was held on August 30 at Al-Sharaa’s former headquarters in Idlib Governorate, northwestern Syria, far from his official office in Damascus, where two senior security officials sat next to him.

Al-Sharaa ordered civil servants who own luxury cars to hand over their keys or face investigations on suspicion of graft, according to two attendees and two other civil servants briefed on the meeting, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. Attendees added that only a few handed over their keys before leaving the hall.

Syrian sources believed that the message that Al-Sharaa addressed to his supporters reflects the biggest challenge facing the 43-year-old president, which is how to transition from leading an armed rebellion to civilian rule without repeating the rampant corruption in Assad’s police state.

The gamble lies in preserving the legitimacy that Sharaa gained among Syrians and abroad after the overthrow of the dictator.

The Syrian Ministry of Information confirmed to Reuters that Al-Sharaa held a “friendly, informal” meeting in Idlib with former leaders, officials and prominent figures, during which he discussed the political and security challenges and the need to change “the investment culture established by the previous regime.”

The ministry said that the president stressed that he would not tolerate any suspicions of corruption among state employees, but it denied handing over any car keys during the meeting.