The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday that the international community has launched an effort to track down an estimated $17 trillion in overseas hidden assets belonging to the al-Assad family, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for decades.
According to reports, the investigation began in earnest after Syrian rebels captured the capital, Damascus, on the 8th after 13 years of civil war, forcing Bashar al-Assad’s family to flee to Russia.
Although the Assad family, who reigned as murderous dictators for 53 years across two generations, has been forced from power, they are believed to have amassed considerable wealth through monopolizing state-owned enterprises, drug trafficking, and circumventing international law. This ill-gotten fortune is thought to be concealed in various locations abroad.
A 2022 U.S. State Department report estimated that the embezzled assets could total between $12 billion and $1 billion.
The international community suspects that the Assad family’s asset concealment efforts extend beyond the immediate family line of the first dictator, Hafez al-Assad, and his son, Bashar al-Assad. They are believed to include extended family members such as Hafez’s brothers, brothers-in-law, and nephews. Notably, Bashar’s wife, Asma al-Assad, who was born in the UK and previously worked for the global investment bank JP Morgan, is also implicated in these financial dealings.
Reports suggest the family’s assets include a $22.3 million high-rise building in Moscow, a $43 million private jet in Dubai, real estate in France estimated at €90 million ($94 million), a Vienna hotel, and Romania properties. They are also alleged to hold 18 HSBC bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven, and accounts with Credit Suisse in Switzerland.
International human rights attorneys have started the search for these hidden assets in an attempt to retrieve them and give them back to the Syrian people. It is anticipated that this tracking will require a significant amount of time.