APRIL 7, 2016
Syria’s democratic opposition is combing through this week’s release of the Panama Papers to revitalize efforts to identify and freeze billions of dollars amassed by the family and friends of their country’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad.
The papers, leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, have uncovered a web of shell companies and offshore accounts hiding wealth tied to prominent officials around the world. Among them are new disclosures about Rami and Hafez Makhlouf, the cousins of Assad who are estimated to have once controlled more than half of Syria’s economy. The papers also document millions of dollars’ worth of real-estate holdings belonging to Suleiman Marouf, an Assad ally based in London.
Rami Makhlouf, who was in charge of several Syrian state-owned enterprises before the crisis began, has been sanctioned by the U.S. government since 2008 for benefiting and aiding the public corruption of the Syrian regime. He controlled access to Syria’s telecommunications, commercial, oil, gas and banking sectors, according to the Treasury Department.
Hafez, Rami’s brother, was the head of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate and has been sanctioned by the U.S. since 2007 as part of an effort to punish Syrian leaders for undermining the sovereignty of neighboring Lebanon. The papers have disclosed new information about three shell companies used by the Makhlouf brothers — Pangates International, Maxima Middle East Trading and Morgan Additives Manufacturing. Despite multiple warnings, Mossack Fonseca officials remained on the boards of the Makhloufs’ companies until September 2011. Mossack Fonseca, according to Le Monde, continued to advise Pangates International well into 2012.