Syria's one-time richest businessman Rami Makhlouf has urged President Bashar Al-Assad, who is also his cousin, to swiftly intervene after “war profiteers” seizing his assets through forgery and deception.
In a Sunday post on Facebook, Makhlouf said that security forces affiliated with the regime stormed one of his offices at night and seized vital company documents.
“Why, despite all that has been done and mentioned, is not being taken care of by you or by any public entity to which we have addressed an issue of this size involving fraud and fraud that is the largest corruption file that passes through the history of the Syrian Arab Republic and undermines its prestige?”Makhlouf asked in his address to Assad.
He complained that his assets have been confiscated by the regime and that his companies and properties were sold with forged contracts, including false power of attorney letters.
He said he no longer owns his home in Syria and the properties of his children have been effectively confiscated.
Makhlouf called for “the implementation of the provisions and articles of the constitution that guaranteed and safeguarded private property by returning all of our rights to us and punishing the perpetrators with the most severe penalties.”
In a similar context, Makhlouf sent invitations to “millions” of Syrians last Thursday to pray for a period of 40 days beginning on the 15th of this month to resolve the Syrian economic crisis and “defeat all who have wronged us”, such as he said in his last prayer which published and read in a video on his Facebook account.
Makhlouf, who until a few months ago was the most famous and powerful businessman in the country, entered into a confrontation with the government after the Ministry of Communications demanded that he pay about 132 billion pounds to restore balance to the license granted to his company, “Syriatel”, but he refused that, which led to gradual repercussions that included the seizure of his money, canceling his investments in free zones, and banning him from traveling.