Syria’s richest man and first cousin of Syrain President Bashar al-Assad, who is accused by the US and EU of bankrolling the regime, has exacerbated a spectacular falling out with the Syrian leader, accusing him of sending security forces to arrest his employees and take over his businesses.
Rami Makhlouf on Sunday released a second Facebook video — two days after an earlier appearance — that lifted the lid on his split with al-Assad and laid bare the workings of the ruling family’s normally inscrutable inner sanctum.
The tycoon has bankrolled the Syrian leader for the past 20 years and much of the regime’s war effort since 2012. Through a conglomerate empire that has controlled up to 60 percent of the Syrian economy, Makhlouf had amassed a fortune thought to be as high as ￡8 billion (US$10 billion) — attracting US and EU sanctions, but considered untouchable inside Syria until a family split in October last year.
Photo: AP
The unraveling and its public nature comes as al-Assad has been subjected to rare criticism from one of his two patrons, Russia, which has grown impatient as the long, costly war grinds slowly on and is looking for returns on its five-year investment.
Syria has been devastated by the nine-year war, which has greatly diminished al-Assad’s power and placed unprecedented pressure on the ruling clans and their networks, who have run the economy like a personal fiefdom.
Makhlouf had controlled nearly every pillar of the economy, including construction, vehicle imports, retail, tourism and telecommunications, where the mobile network Syriatel has been its main cash cow and the target of al-Assad’s interest.
“They are asking me to distance myself from my companies and do exactly as they order me to do, while I’m blindfolded and not able to respond,” Makhlouf said. “The pressures have started with the senior figures in these companies being arrested already.”
“The pressure began in unacceptable ways and the security forces, in an inhumane way, are arresting our employees,” he said.
Addressing the Syrian leader, he added: “President [al-Assad], the security forces have started attacking people’s freedoms. These are your loyal supporters. The situation is dangerous and by God, if we continue, the situation of the country will be very difficult.”
Makhlouf said that he had been asked to pay up to ￡180 million in taxes, which he said he was willing to do.
However, he said he would not step down from Syriatel, which is the economic artery of Syria’s sanctions-hit government and one of its biggest assets.
He said that al-Assad had accused him of minimizing profits in Syriatel to avoid taxes.
One Syrian businessman described Makhlouf’s fortune as “staggering.”
“Syria’s GDP was [US]$60 billion in 2010,” the businessman said. “He controls easily half of that. Multiply that by 20 years and add in the family silver from [former Syrian president] Hafez al-Assad’s days and you have tremendous wealth, much of it that would not pass any audit.”
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