Switzerland has frozen 99 million francs linked to relatives of former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. This freezing of Syrian assets represents an insignificant part of the fortune of the former head of state, estimated between 1 and 2 billion dollars.
Several members of the Assad clan tried to recover their money blocked in Switzerland. According to revelations from CH Media newspapers on Thursday, some have taken legal steps to move funds, arguing their distance from the Syrian regime. The Federal Administrative Court rejected them.
They are among the 318 people targeted by the sanctions applied by Berne. Added to this are 87 entities. In total, 99 million francs were frozen in Switzerland, as revealed by the State Secretariat for the Economy (Seco) last week. Switzerland, like the European Union, took action against the Syrian government in 2011, at the start of the violent repression of the Arab Spring.
Lifting sanctions before restitution
The question now arises of the future of its assets. Contacted, Seco emphasizes that the European Union must first lift the sanctions before restitution can be considered. However, several European officials – and American ones too – have already said publicly that the issue was not on the agenda.
The extent of the Assad clan’s fortune remains partly unknown. According to a report from the American State Department, which focused on Bashar al-Assad and part of his immediate family, it would reach between 1 and 2 billion dollars.
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But by the authors’ own admission, this estimate, which dates from 2022, remains prudent. They describe a “complex system — including shell companies and front businesses — that serves as a tool for the regime to access financial resources.” We therefore quickly lose track of this fortune which could therefore be significantly higher and, above all, very well hidden.
Apart from the funds blocked in Switzerland, Great Britain has frozen tens of millions. France and Spain seized the clan’s properties valued at 600 million.
Opaque system
The Assad family owns several real estate properties in Moscow, but information remains patchy on this fortune which comes from the control of several sectors of the Syrian economy, such as energy, telecommunications, real estate and even banks.
But also from another source discovered since the fall of the regime: that of trafficking in captagon, a psychostimulant. The turnover linked to this synthetic drug would be greater than the size of the Syrian economy. These are also estimates and it will take years to analyze all the contours of the Assad system.
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Mathilde Farine
