Assad family and Swiss bank accounts
Wife of Assad's uncle remains on Swiss sanctions list
The Federal Administrative Court has decided that the wife of a deceased uncle of deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad will not be removed from the Swiss sanctions list.
The wife of one of Bashar al-Assad's deceased uncles did not show in any way how she had reset her life socially and economically and cut off contact with her sons.
Photo: Keystone
The wife of a deceased uncle of deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad will not be removed from the Swiss sanctions list. The Federal Administrative Court has rejected a complaint from the 76-year-old.
The complainant is the first wife of Mohammed Makhlouf, an uncle of Bashar al-Assad. One of her four sons, Rami Makhlouf, was considered one of the richest and most influential men in the country when the civil war broke out in Syria.
The woman argued that she was only put on the EU and therefore on the Swiss sanctions list because of her family affiliation. They have organized their lives independently since their husband married another woman and have not been politically or economically active. This emerges from a ruling by the Federal Administrative Court published on Monday.
Independence not demonstrated
The court found that the 76-year-old had in no way shown how she had re-started her life socially and economically. In addition, she did not state that she had cut off contact with her sons. These are also on the sanctions list. The proximity to the Assad family is proven.
The ruling shows that in 2011, after the EU imposed sanctions, her husband tried to have a $10 million contribution paid out to his wife from his account at the HSBC bank in Geneva. Makhlouf had achieved extraordinary wealth. He had control over Syria's oil reserves and was head of the tobacco authority and the Syrian Land Bank. He died in September 2020. (Judgment B-2845/2023 of December 9, 2024)
The morning
The perfect start to the day with news and stories from Switzerland and the world.
More newsletters
SDA/SME
Found an error? Report now.
