How Assad’s Allies Got $18 Million From the UN
- Companies blacklisted by U.S., EU get all-clear from UN
- Contracts handed to phone, security companies with regime ties
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (foregorund L), his wife Asma visit the exhibition dedicated to French painter Claude Monet at the Grand Palais on December 11, 2010 in Paris at the end of their official visit in France.
Photographer: MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty ImagesThe United Nations paid at least $18 million last year to companies with close ties to Bashar al-Assad, some of them run by cronies of the Syrian president who are on U.S. and European Union blacklists.
Contracts for telecommunications and security were awarded to regime insiders including Rami Makhlouf, Assad’s cousin. UN staff ran up a $9.5 million bill at the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus, co-owned by Syria’s tourism ministry, according to the UN’s annual report on procurement for 2016, a 739-page document published in June. Some UN money even went to a charity set up by the president’s wife.