The fate of the Syrian businessman Khodr Ali Taher, who is close to the Syrian first lady Asma Al-Assad is making headlines in Syria, after mixed reports about his residence. Some opposition-affiliated local media reported that the businessman who was not known in Syria until 2016 has fled the country, while other media outlets denied the reports.
Who is Taher? and has he truly fled Syria?
Taher was born in 1967 in Safita in the countryside of the Syrian coastal governorate of Tartous. He wasn’t known on a large scale until 2016 when he emerged as a businessman and a prominent economic figure of the Syrian regime, particularly in the projects of the First Lady. However, he wasn’t wealthy before that time; he only owned a small shop before the eruption of the Syrian war a decade ago.
Although opposition-affiliated Syrian media reported the escape of the businessman, who’s also nicknamed “Abu Ali Khodr”, carrying a huge sum of money, regime-affiliated media have not denied or confirmed these reports.
Promoting an Anti-corruption campaign
“Instructions were issued by the presidential palace to censor any news reports about the escape of the businessman who owns dozens of huge Syrian companies and economic institutions,” a source in the Ministry of Mass Communication in Damascus told Majalla.
In fact, Taher owns Ella Tourism Company, and Emma Tel LLC, which is used as evidence on his relationship with Asma Al-Assad, as she owned the company before she married the Syrian President. Taher is also a co-founder of Jasmine Contracting Company and the board chairman and co-founder of the Syrian Hotel Management LLC. In addition, he owns Ella Media LLC, and co-founded and managed Emma Tel Plus.
Moreover, Taher is the director and the owner of Al Ali & Al Hamza LLC. He also co-founded the Syrian Company for Metals and Investments, and co-founded and headed Elegant Company, in addition to the Golden Star Trading LLC and dozens of Syrian companies and economic institutions.
Speaking to Majalla, some local sources called into question the news of Taher’s escape, particularly that opposition media mentioned that he smuggled three billion dollars abroad. That huge sum is desperately needed by the regime now due to its crippling economic crisis caused by the American and European sanctions.
The same sources believe that the regime is pressuring Taher and his men in order to maintain its image as a corruption fighter. That’s why security forces raided into Taher’s house and the houses of his employees in Damascus and its countryside.
Detainment of Taher’s Employees
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has announced that security forces raided into residences of a number of the businessman’s employees and detained some of them.
The UK-based Observatory revealed that the authorities wanted to detain the businessman himself, but he wasn’t at his house.
The Observatory’s field correspondents denied to Majalla that it is possible for Taher to flee the country.
One correspondent told Majalla that “the businessman is hiding now, but has not been able to leave Syria yet,” while indicating that he might be able to flee later if the authorities keep clamping down on his companies and institutions.
“Prince of crossings” is Protected by the 4th Division
Taher has strong relations with the Fourth Division of the Syrian Army, which is led by Maher Al-Assad, the President’s brother. He also used to manage the finances of the Fourth Division and impose royalties on traders, industrialists and other capitalists in Syria. That was highlighted earlier by Fares al-Shehaby, the head of the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce and the former member of the Syrian Parliament, who accused Taher of taking royalty from factories in Aleppo in a phone interview with the Syrian News TV Channel.
Al-Shehaby, who is one of the first to uncover Taher’s relationship with the regime, said that the businessman was fighting the “national industries” and selling smuggled goods in the regime-controlled areas. Although al-Shehaby’s criticism was harsh, Taher’s activities did not stop, but he managed to remove the TV interview, which proved the regime media supported him. Taher was even welcomed by the regime’s Interior Minister two years ago despite all the suspicions and accusations raised against him.
Taher is also known as the “prince of crossings” in reference to the internal crossings between the regime and opposition-controlled areas. He is also accused of monopolizing imports of many food products, clothes, baby formula, cigarettes and others. In addition, he is said to force owners of factories and industrial facilities to buy their raw materials from his companies.
Sanctioned by the United States
Most of the businessman’s companies were included in the US sanction in late September 2020. However, his economic activities kept going as he established companies in new names, although he himself was sanctioned by Washington a year and half ago, non-governmental sources told Majalla.
There is no accurate estimates of the wealth Taher accumulated during the years of war, but some local economic websites said it is about 12 billion US dollar. Some Syrian actors who support Al-Assad expressed their solidarity with Taher: the well-known singer Hossam Junaid described him in a Facebook post as “the father of the poor” and posted a photo of the businessman with a comment “You are as firm as a rock.”
Despite the mixed reports about his escape or hiding, Taher has not appeared on media until now. His disappearance might mean that he is detained by the authorities which didn’t want to announce it, especially that his travel abroad is very difficult due to strict state control over border crossings and Damascus International Airport.
Restructuring Corruption
The Syrian regime wants to restructure corruption, special sources told Majalla. This means that the authorities would detain Taher and other businessmen to force them return huge sums of money to the state, just as the President did three years ago with Rami Makhlouf. The well-known businessman Makhlouf was forced to return huge sums of money to the regime which took over a number of his companies in an anti-corruption campaign as described by state media.
Recently, discontent grew among residents of regime-controlled areas due to deteriorating living conditions and the political deadlock under western sanctions. That triggered the regime’s campaign against some businessmen and promoted the idea of recovering stolen public assets via legal channels and international organizations. Taher could be one of these businessmen.
According to the same sources, in the recent years, the Syrian regime is used to replacing businessmen in its close circles occasionally to assure its popular base that it is fighting corruption. This means a new businessman would come to replace the old one.
Taher’s hiding and reported escape coincide with the removal of a Syrian businessman from the EU sanctions list. The European Court of Justice has lifted the sanctions imposed on the Syrian businessman Abdelkader Sabra whose attorneys appealed before the EU court.
Informed sources told Majalla that the removal of Sabra doesn’t mean restoring ties between the regime and the EU, particularly that a French diplomat was behind the lift of sanctions on Sabra.
Sabra (born in 1955) is the first President of the Chamber of Maritime Navigation in Syria, and a co-founder of Cham Holding which was part of an alliance between businessmen and the regime. He is also a co-founder of Arwad tourism projects and one of the most prominent businessmen in the Syrian coast. His Sabra Group is based in Tartous and he was one of Makhlouf’s partners and close men. But in 2013, the regime decided to confiscate all of his movable and immovable properties.
During the recent years, most of businessmen who supported the regime have amassed enormous wealth in the aftermath of the Syrian war. Majority of them were not known earlier, and the local economy was exclusively controlled by Rami Makhlouf and his men. The war has made room for more people to invest and trade.
Less than two months ago, Syrian Minister of Finance Kenan Yaghi pledged to enforce a unified tax system on income and sales which aims at increasing the rate of taxation and amending the present tax law. He said it would achieve “tax justice”, and that meant taking actions against a number of businessmen in the coming months.
Yaghi announced that his ministry is preparing a legislation that includes the exemption of minimum wages and raising this minimum to 94,000 Syrian pounds instead of 50,000 pounds. The announcement came in a meeting with a number of industrialists, investors and businessmen in Hassia Industrial City in Homs, in which they discussed financial and tax issues in late February.
Taher (or Abu Ali Khodr), Hossam Qatarji, Amer Foz, Samir Qattan, Yasser Aziz Abbas, Maher Burhan Eddine al-Imam, Sakr Rostom and others were among the prominent names serving as the regime’s economic front after the war. Most of them were listed in the EU and US sanctions over their support to Al-Assad.
* Jiwan Soz is a researcher and journalist who focuses on Syrian and Turkish affairs and minorities in the Middle East. He is also a member of Syndicat National des Journalistes (National Syndicate of Journalists [SNJ]). He tweets at @JiwanSoz1
