Rami Makhlouf Speaks to the WSJ
Posted by Joshua on Thursday, March 27th, 2008
By law, the US Treasury cannot punish or freeze the assets of any company in which a sanctioned person owns less than 50% of the shares. The sanctioned person must own over half of a company for the Treasury Deptartment to be able to impose penalties on it or take action against other shareholders. Makhlouf claims he only owns 12% of Sham Holding Company, so his partners cannot be hurt or intimidated by the US government. Certainly, Rami Makhlouf will be inconvenienced.
But if the United States wishes to have an effect on the Syrian economy by its sanctioning measures, it will have to list many more people in the category of public corruption. As the treasury department claims, no sanctioned person has ever won a court case against it, so there is little to keep the Bush administration from sanctioning as many major Syrian businessmen as it wants. Getting information of them all would be expensive and time consuming.
The stock market and money markets are not open yet in Damascus, so very few companies have listed themselves publicly and their finances and ownership are not a mater of common record. Makhlouf has established many off-shore companies to hide his ownership of towers in Dubai and other holdings in Europe and elsewhere. Tracking these down and proving their real ownership will require that the treasury and FBI devote major resources to the case, but one must imagine that Makhlouf will simply find sleeping partners to claim 51% of any company.
Here is the article:
Syrian Tycoon Bristles At US Sanctions Against Him
2008-03-26 19:41 (New York)
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Mariam Fam in Damascus, Syria, and Jay Solomon in Washington
As the U.S. places economic sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Assad and his inner circle, one of Syria's richest men is expanding his foreign partnerships and promising to fight Washington's attempts to rein him in.
In February, the U.S. Treasury Department banned U.S. firms and individuals from doing business with companies controlled by Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf. The sanctions would also freeze any of Mr. Makhlouf's American assets. The designation was part of an effort by the Bush administration to economically and diplomatically isolate Damascus. The U.S. says Syria is seeking to destabilize the Lebanese government while supporting militant groups operating in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
The U.S. is sanctioning Mr. Makhlouf because it says he is involved in corrupt activities. That is a twist: Most Treasury sanctions in recent years
have been of companies or individuals allegedly supporting terrorism or weapons proliferation. The Bush administration has already sanctioned a number of
Syrian government officials and companies for aiding militant groups operating inside Lebanon and Iraq.
In a rare interview, Mr. Makhlouf said the sanctions had little effect on his business and won't change Syria's behavior. He added that there were ways to circumvent the sanctions.
He also said he had been unfairly targeted and would fight back. "I will sue everyone that issued this decision," he said in his offices in Damascus. "I
will demand my rights and ask to be compensated for any past or future damages."
A U.S. official said the Treasury Department has been sued in recent years in relation to its blacklisting of firms alleged to be financing terrorism. The
official said the department has won all these cases.
The Treasury Department's sanctioning of Mr. Makhlouf fits into an emerging strategy being employed by Washington as it attempts to punish hostile regimes: targeting their most-prominent business executives and companies. Over the past two years, the Treasury Department virtually froze North Korea out of the international financial system by blacklisting the Macanes bank through which it conducted most of its overseas transactions. In recent months, the Treasury Department has sought to isolate Myanmar's military government by sanctioning a Burmese businessman widely viewed as the junta's most important fund-raiser.
Mr. Makhlouf's "corrupt behavior, which includes intimidation and obtaining improper business relationships, has both disadvantaged Syrians and entrenched the regime," said Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, in an interview. "He's very close to the Assad regime, personally and economically."
Mr. Makhlouf, 38 years old, is a cousin of Mr. Assad. His business interests include tourism, real estate, banks and telecommunications. While he is a
prominent figure in Syria, he keeps a low profile; many Syrians don't know what he looks like.
In recent years, he has increasingly hooked up with investment partners from other Arab countries and Europe, including some key American allies. That could complicate Washington's efforts to isolate him. The sanctions are only applicable to American citizens, but Washington hopes they will discourage
non-American firms from doing business with him as well.
Last year, Mr. Makhlouf and dozens of other prominent Syrian investors established Cham Holding, considered Syria's largest private company. Mr.
Makhlouf is the company's vice chairman. He holds about a 12% interest through an investment fund called Al Mashreq, his office said.
Since then, Cham has agreed with Syria's state airline and a Kuwaiti company to set up a new airline. Mr. Makhlouf has also been in talks to sell a stake in his Syrian cellphone operator, Syriatel Mobile Telecom SA, to a Turkish company. Mr. Makhlouf is Syriatel's chairman and majority shareholder.
This month, shortly after the sanctions were imposed, Dubai-based real-estate company Emaar Properties PJSC announced it had agreed to set up a $100 million venture with Cham to develop projects in Syria. Emaar representatives didn't return phone calls and email requests for comment.
In the interview, Mr. Makhlouf said he has no investments or money in the U.S., and that the U.S. move hasn't had much financial impact on his business
at home.
Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said he couldn't comment on whether assets related to
Mr. Makhlouf were frozen in the U.S. He added that more important than any frozen assets has been "the information we're providing to governments,
businesses and financial institutions around the world" relating to Mr. Makhlouf.
Mr. Levey said he couldn't comment on what specific actions Treasury might take against Cham Holding or other companies associated with Mr. Makhlouf. He said his office, however, "is looking into all of them," including their ownership structures.
He said the Treasury Department charges against Mr. Makhlouf, particularly regarding corruption, "might make people exercise discretion in determining
whether to do business with him."
Mr. Makhlouf said the blacklisting has won him the support of many Syrians, and that there are ways to get around the sanctions.
"Today, I publicly associate myself with companies that I publicly say I own. Tomorrow, maybe I will come up with companies that no one knows I own," he said. "If other companies want to work around this, if they want to work in the country, they can. Syria is a promising market." He also said that the move could rattle potential investors. "After all, this is America," he said. "Most big companies have interests in America."
It remains unclear just how much pressure Washington's actions will place on Mr. Makhlouf and companies doing business with him. An early test case may be Gulfsands Petroleum PLC, a publicly traded, United Kingdom-incorporated energy company. Mr. Makhlouf is a minority shareholder, through Al Mashreq.
Gulfsands' chief executive and largest shareholder, John Dorrier, is an American citizen, and the company has offices in Houston. In October, Gulfsands formed a strategic partnership to develop oil fields in Syria and Iraq with Cham Holding. A Gulfsands executive said the Treasury Department's blacklisting of Mr. Makhlouf will have no impact on the company pursuing its partnership with Cham. Gulfsands said it would comply with any rulings made by the Treasury. Mr. Levey said he couldn't comment on Gulfsands, and couldn't discuss companies believed to be tied financially to Mr. Makhlouf. Mr. Makhlouf said Washington's approach to trying to change Syria's behavior won't work. "This is not how to solve the issue," he said. "Syria is a main player in the region. . . . Pressure on it doesn't produce results."
Senior U.S. officials said they tried to engage Damascus directly by inviting a Syrian delegation last November to the Washington-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Md. Since that time, American diplomats said Syria has displayed no willingness to cooperate with the U.S. and its allies to stabilize the political situation in either Lebanon or the Palestinian territories. The recent sanctioning of Mr. Makhlouf and other Syrian officials is a result of Washington's frustration with President Assad's government, these U.S. officials say.
Comments (15)
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March 27th, 2008, 12:59 pm
ghat Albird said:
Just a comment or two. The government of a nation of 300 million and the self proclaimed defender of democratic freedoms has taken the step of “sanctioning” one individual of a sovereign nation several thousand miles from its shores.
One can only attest to a certain judeo-like commitment to naming one individual as “a priori” guilty of some act. A naming of the few persona’s that come to mind are Castro, Nasser, Kim, Guevera, DeGaulle, Noreiga, etc,. etc,.
The major political actors on the world stage are creating a bizarre environmen as an introduction to the globalization of the 21st. Century. As a primer what the hell happened to the standing of “international law” and relations between sovereign nations?
March 27th, 2008, 1:52 pm
antika said:
1000 thanks for the comarade Nour for her wonderful post. this is what we need when we comment on syrian issues especially those of Mr R.M.
I have noticed that syria-news website is following its sister Champress by not allowing comments on selected vintage news about syria and one of them is the above.
the irony which makes me laugh is with another report about some development in Damscus Airport and a comment is wondering who is going to invest in the airport Free Zone? quite difficult! I can give you three options.
March 27th, 2008, 2:22 pm
Nour said:
Ta7iyatna Antika.
I believe what we need is clear, conscious positions regarding our nation that put its interest above all other interests and on that basis develop a formula for our advancement. I was very pleased and impressed with Dr. Ali Haidar’s speech because it was honest, direct, and principled. He criticized the government for its mishandling of many internal issues, while at the same time warning of the external threats and dangers we are currently facing. It’s a truly independent position that is not confounded by the political chaos plaguing our nation. The speech also offers clear solutions to our problems, rather than mere complaining about the situation.
March 27th, 2008, 2:58 pm
Majhool said:
???? (Cyprus)!!
Are you guys serious? I do sympathies with Syrian Nationals and believe that a Syrian character and culture do exist in the Levant and has potential, but come on. Cyprus!!
We all can do Arabism and Syrianism a favor by keeping it purely cultural and leverage it to propel stability and prosperity in the region.
As for our brilliant young entrepreneur Makhlouf, he said it him self
“maybe I will come up with companies that no one knows I own,”
Can’t get any more shady than this but yet again according to our realists here we Syrians don’t deserve any better.
March 27th, 2008, 4:35 pm
Friend in America said:
Josh – Can Nour’s comment be translated into English?
March 27th, 2008, 4:49 pm
Nour said:
Majhool,
Historically and geographically Cyprus has always been tied to the Syrian homeland, so it is by no means a stretch to regard it as part of Syria. The fact that its Greek influence led its inhabitants to speak Greek does not change the nature and character of the region. In addition, Cyprus has always served as a strategic base for previous Syrian states and its location is a prime reason why Turkey and Greece are fighting over it.
Now, this does not mean that we are going to go grab Cyprus and make it part of Syria, as this is presently unrealistic. However, Saadeh always maintained that we must separate between political circumstances and national realities. We do not change our positions regarding fundamental issues based on current political trends. Politics are bound to change with time, but our national identity and the service of our national interest should be a constant. The US found it justifiable to make Hawaii, and island a couple thousand miles away from the nearest US coast, part of its territory and yet many of our people are still befuddled that we would consider Cyprus, which is a skip and a hop off the Syrian coast, and which has historically had natural ties to Syria, part of the Syrian homeland.
March 27th, 2008, 4:51 pm
Alex said:
FIM,
I doubt it. Josh will be veeeery busy this week. He will explain later.
Except if Nour would translate parts of the interview.
March 27th, 2008, 4:52 pm
Nour said:
Alex,
I’ll try to translate the speech, or at least parts of it, and post it a bit later on.
March 27th, 2008, 5:17 pm
Majhool said:
Nour,
Few points in History:
The Arab conquest in the 600s changed for good the demographics and national identities of the whole region. Consequently, there was Muslims in the east and Christians in the West. With a buffer zone (Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus)
The issue of territory is irrelevant. I have Turkish friends who live in a previously Greek territory. The nature of their residence does not make them any Greek.
The Hawaii example is invalid because the annexation is merely done by force and shared prosperity. Even if Syria becomes powerful one day and get control over Cyprus then we would subjecting its citizens.
The Arab and Muslim elements in Syria cannot be discounted; it’s now part of who we are and conversely its not part of what Cypriots are.
March 27th, 2008, 5:41 pm
Alex said:
Thanks Nour.
March 27th, 2008, 5:45 pm
Nour said:
Majhool,
The Arab conquests in the 600’s did not erase thousands of years of history preceding them. The Syrian nation had a unique national identity and character prior to the Arab conquests and continued to do so after the conquests. Although the Arab conquests certainly added to the Syrian mix, it did not create something new, just like prior and subsequent conquests did not negate our national identity and eliminate our overall history.
The Syrians have a unique character that most definitely distinguishes them from other peoples in the Arab World. While we definitely do share certain interests and cultural traits with other Arab nations those aspects of our social reality do not constitute our entire being. We are a single, complete nation with a national pyche that is distinct from all others.
With respect to Cyprus, the Cypriots are in essence Syrians with a distinctly Syrian character, even though they share some cultural traits with Greece. On a personal level, many Cypriots I have known have admitted that they feel a stronger bond to Syria than they do to Greece, but of course maintained that they would rather be independent.
The Hawaii example wasn’t used to compare it to Cyprus, as I don’t believe they are similar or identical. I merely presented it to show that most nations attempt to get a foothold on the nearest islands to them in order to have a strategic base off their coasts, and that for some reason many of our people are appalled at the idea that we may have a stake in Cyprus even though we have much stronger ties to Cyprus than the Americans do to Hawaii.
March 27th, 2008, 9:16 pm
Majhool said:
Nour
I concur with you that the Arab conquest did not erase thousands of years of our history. But please keep in mind that the conquerors (The Arabians) ruled, settled, and intermarried into the host populations. And not only created a new Syrian character but also created a new Arabism because Arabism escaped the confines of the desert and overtime became the core of urban culture of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, etc.
In addition to that, a huge empire was created with Islam as the religion and the law of the land. This made Syria part of a global empire that had its center anywhere from Cairo, to Istanbul to Iran. Not only that, but the hostilities between the west and Islamic empires further reinforced the separation (Crusaders for example). Islam grew to be a culture and a civilization on its self with its own sciences, architecture, and philosophy etc..
Locality is important and I am not discounting it and it sure lends to the character of people but the macro affiliations are far stronger in this case.
I find no harm in advancing Syrianism as a mean of narrowing the scope of the peoples aspiration but I predict that it will surely become a failure once it discounts the most recent history (1400 years) of Syrians, i.e. Arabism and Islam.
I believe we are in the right track when it comes to fully cooking our national identity. Advancing things such as “Syria Now” will work as long as we continue to Identify with the heritage of Islam and Arabism (in the secular sense) . The minute we attempt to discount the two it will fail as people will reject it.
It’s not an incident that Damascus is called (3areen el 3orabah) it sure it.
March 27th, 2008, 11:15 pm
Nour said:
Majhool,
Rest assured that no one is discounting anything. As I said earlier, nobody denies that an Arab element was added to the Syrian mix, making it part of the Syrian national makeup. However, our character was not changed, and the presence of Arabs on our land was not so great in numbers that it replaced the local population.
The fact that we were part of an Arab/Islamic Empire does not change who we are as a nation inasmuch as being part of a Roman, Byzantine, or Ottoman Empire did not change our character and temperment. We are Syrians primarily with a distinct national character and with clear differences between us and other peoples of the Arab World. Ths is not to say that we do not share anything with the other Arabs, for it would be foolish to deny that we have many interests and cultural traits in common, as I made clear above. And for this reason Saadeh himself, in the Aim of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, made part of the Party’s objective the establishment of an Arab Front.
However, what is dangerous is to mix common interests and cultural characteristics with a single national identity, thereby leading to the loss of our national identity and dissipating our national energy and resources for the sake of an illusory Arabism that has never proved to be representative of a single nation and a single interest. As Saadeh stated in the Second Fundamental Principle, the Syrian cause is a distinct national cause completely independent from any other cause. Unfortunately we have always mixed our cause with a larger Arab one, which has time and again led to nothing but dissapointments and disasters.
March 28th, 2008, 12:09 pm
Majhool said:
Nour
OK, Fine. Syrian character changed when Arabs and Islam came. The same thing did not happen in Cyprus. On the other hand Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine shared the Arab/Islam element hence shared the same history and aspiration with us.
Look at the Maronites, they clearly share same Syrian character yet their identity is centered on their faith and their different history and different aspirations. For example they were consistently aspiring for independence from the adjacent mulsim kingdoms and consistently allied themselves with the enemies of their neighbors (Crusaders for example)
By the way, Arab genealogical influence is greater than what you think. But that’s a different story.
March 28th, 2008, 4:39 pm
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