Rami Makhlouf

Mercedes wanted to keep the Sankar family, who had had the concession since the 1960s.

Mercedes ceased all activity in Syria until the dispute was resolved, and the Mercedes concession is now once again controlled by the Sankar family.

Makhlouf's current business interests are extensive, which include business interests in Syria’s oil and gas industries, banking, construction and duty-free shops.

He is the majority owner of Cham Holding which has investments in luxury tourism, restaurants, and real estate through Bena Properties.

Cham Holding also controls Syrian Pearl Airlines, the first private airline to be allowed in the country.

He is also invested in several private banks established in Syria, such as the International Islamic Bank of Syria, Al Baraka Bank, International Bank of Qatar, Cham Bank, and the Bank of Jordan in Syria; in insurance and financial services companies, such as Cham Capital.

Like his father, Mohammed Makhlouf, he is active in the oil sector, via the British oil company Gulfsands Petroleum.

He is also invested in real estate companies such as Sourouh, Fajr, Al Batra, and Al Hada'iq; in tourism companies such as Al Mada'in and in media companies such as the daily Al Watan, radio/television station Ninar and satellite station Dunya TV, advertising companies like Promedia; in education companies such as the Choueifat schools; in industry through the Eltel Middle East company; and in public works companies such as Ramak TP.

Rami Makhlouf has extensive land holdings in the United States Virgin Islands, which were the subject of court litigation.

Because of this litigation he transferred his U.S. holdings to his brother Ihab.

The Makhloufs also have a monopoly on the import of tobacco into Syria.

Rami Makhlouf (رَامِي مَخْلُوف; born 10 July 1969) is a Syrian businessman and the maternal cousin of president Bashar al-Assad.

Rami Makhlouf was born on 10 July 1969, and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from Damascus University in 1993.

He is related to the Assad family through his aunt, Anisa Makhlouf, who was the wife of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad.

Makhlouf was among a diverse group of connected insiders who monopolized the small, but growing, Syrian private sector in the 1990s.

As President Hafez al-Assad prepared for his son's succession, the distribution of assets from privatization began to shift clearly in favor of the Makhloufs.

Assad believed the Makhlouf family could be relied upon to support Bashar without reserve in the uncertain political environment that would follow upon his death, unlike other insiders, who had close financial ties to billionaire Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, such as former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam.

Rami and his brother Ihab therefore enjoyed easy access to opportunities such as an exclusive license to operate a network of duty-free retail shops, where a significant portion of goods were redistributed inside the country.

By the time Bashar assumed power in 2000, Rami Makhlouf was well established.

Makhlouf is thought to have tried in 2004 to take over the Mercedes concession in Syria, by ensuring passage of a law denying Mercedes the right to import parts unless Makhlouf was made the exclusive agent for Mercedes in Syria.

There are reports of tensions between the two, which is thought to explain why parts of the Makhlouf business were shifted in 2005 to Dubai.

Some observers believe the transfers were made because the Makhloufs were worried that they were going to be made the scapegoats of an anti-corruption propaganda campaign.

In 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the U.S. assets and restricted the financial transactions of Rami Makhlouf.

Makhlouf maintains a close relationship with Bushra al-Assad, Bashar's older sister, and her husband Assef Shawkat.

He also operates a number of business projects in Lebanon with Maher al-Assad, Bashar's younger brother.

In February 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury designated Makhlouf as a beneficiary and facilitator of public corruption in Syria.

His influence and connections within the government have allowed him to control the issuance of certain types of profitable commodities contracts, it said.

According to the US Treasury, "Makhlouf has manipulated the Syrian judicial system and used Syrian intelligence officials to intimidate his business rivals. He employed these techniques when trying to acquire exclusive licenses to represent foreign companies in Syria and to obtain contract awards."

At the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, he was considered to be one of Syria's most richest and most powerful men.

According to Syrian analysts, he is part of al-Assad's inner circle and no foreign company could do business in Syria at the time without his consent and partnership.

This search was based on the decision of the Ministerial Council of the League of Arab States dated 27 November 2011, to impose multiple sanctions on Syria, and on and decisions issued by the European Union and the United States involving economic sanctions on Syria.

On 5 July 2012, it was reported that the Central Bank of the UAE ordered the banks and financial institutions to search for and submit details of any financial assets and transactions performed by the Syrian ruling elite, including Rami Makhlouf.

In 2016, he was reported to own Syriatel, the largest mobile phone network in Syria, along with other retail, banking and real estate companies.

Makhlouf had a falling out with al-Assad in the spring of 2020 and was placed under house arrest, resulting in the arrest of many of his aides, along with the targeting of his companies by security forces.

He was stripped of his shares in Syriatel, and the consortium he had established as the biggest investment vehicle in Syria was also taken off line.

Makhlouf's remaining assets in Syria are considered to be insignificant compared to the billions he has transferred abroad on behalf of Bashar al-Assad.

Makhlouf's personal wealth accumulated abroad was estimated to be in excess of $10 billion in 2020.

Makhlouf is the main owner of Syriatel, one of two licensed mobile phone companies in Syria.

Besides Syriatel, he is involved in real estate, banking, free trade zones along the border with Lebanon, duty-free shops, and luxury department stores.

According to the Financial Times, he is thought to control as much as 60% of the Syrian economy through his web of business interests.