Syria stock market suspends trading for Assad’s cousin’s firm

Syria’s stock market has suspended trading for the largest cellular company in the country, owned by a cousin of the president and one of Syria’s richest businessmen.

The decision by the Syrian Commission of Financial Markets and Securities marked another development in a deepening financial dispute within the Assad family, which has ruled Syria for five decades. The company, Syriatel, is one of the country’s largest employers, with thousands of staff and 11 million subscribers.

In this April 24, 2010 photo, Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Syrian President Bashar Assad and one of that country’s wealthiest businessmen, attends an event to inaugurate a hotel project, in Damascus, Syria (AP Photo)

The commission said its measure aims to protect shareholders and that the suspension would last until further notice. It did not elaborate.

The businessman, Rami Makhlouf, a maternal cousin of President Bashar Assad, said in an online posting after the decision late on Monday that the situation was a “farce.” He said that over the past 10 years, 70% of the company’s profits were spent on charity.

“No one will be able to prevent this money from reaching” those in need, he vowed.

Last month, a Syrian court imposed a travel ban on Makhlouf until a dispute over outstanding financial dues is settled. The ban was one in a recent quick succession of government measures against Makhlouf, including confiscating his assets and those of his wife and children, and warning that more financial claims would be made against the man once believed to be at the heart of the economy of Syria.

— AP