Syria’s Ministry of Justice has denied reports that surfaced on social media and opposition channels about the seizure of assets belonging to Rami Makhlouf, the billionaire tycoon and first cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“Some pages on Facebook, based on biased foreign sources, published a fake decree from the Ministry of Justice about the seizure of all types of assets belonging to Rami Makhlouf. The ministry denies ever issuing any decree in that regard,” the ministry said on Facebook.
The ministry said there were accounts on social networks that were intentionally publishing fake news and exploiting the topic to spread rumors.
The state’s Department of Communications has recently informed Syriatel, headed by Makhlouf, of the need to pay nearly 234 billion Syrian pounds by May 5, 2020. Makhlouf posted an appeal to the president on his Facebook page, asking for his company to be exempted from taxes and claiming that his employees have been mistreated.
Syrian lawmaker, Mari Bitar, told RIA Novosti that the cousin of the president was subject to the same laws as other citizens of the country and the decision on taxes concerned not just him but everyone who had not paid.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
