International hunt to find assets of former Syrian Pres. Assad

The international community is working together to locate hidden assets of the family of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (pictured), who fled to Russia. Former President Assad and his father, former President Hafez, ruled Syria for 53 years, from 1971 until Dec 8, 2024. The U.S. State Department estimated the family's wealth to reach at least $12 billion as of 2022.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the Assad family hid assets overseas in the name of their relatives to avoid economic sanctions from Western countries, including the United States, after the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. The money earned from monopolizing state-owned enterprises and drug trafficking was used to purchase real estate in major countries, which was hidden in secret accounts overseas.

According to the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Senate, and the investigative reporting group Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Assad family owns a skyscraper worth 22.3 million dollars in Moscow, real estate assets reaching 90 million euros (about 136 billion won) in France, and a private jet worth 43 million dollars in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The family also owns real estate properties in Austria and Romania.

He also hid a huge amount of money through an account at Credit Suisse Bank in Switzerland and an HSBC bank account in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbeans, a tax haven. The Financial Times reported that circumstances have been detected in which the regime transferred cash worth 250 million dollars to Moscow in 2018 and 2019. Reportedly, most of the money was 100-dollar and 500-euro bills, with records of the cash deposited in a Russian bank.

During the lifetime of former President Hafez, the family's assets were managed by his wife and former President Assad's mother, Anissa, and her family. He entrusted asset management to his wife, Asma, from 2020. Asma, a British citizen of Syrian descent, formerly worked at global investment bank JP Morgan.

However, the tracking and recovery of assets are expected to take a considerable amount of time. It also took a long time to trace the assets of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The Assad family is also known to have planned to protect their assets in case of regime collapse or flight abroad.


이지윤 asap@donga.com