The U.S. Department of the Treasury has blacklisted Syriatel, Syria's largest mobile phone operator, and Ramak, a chain of Syrian duty free stores after it named Rami Makhluf as an investor in both companies. Makhluf has been subject to US sanctions since early last year under a policy of targeting people the US government accuses of benefiting from, the public corruption of senior officials of the Syrian regime.
"Rami Makhluf uses his access to high-level Syrian Government insiders to enrich himself at the expense of the Syrian people," said Adam J. Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). "We will continue to target Makhluf and his commercial empire as well as others who follow in his footsteps."
Makhluf, a maternal cousin of Syrian president Bashar al-Asad, is said to have has exploited his relationships with Syrian regime members to amass his commercial empire. Makhluf is also accused of manipulating the Syrian judicial system and using Syrian intelligence officials to intimidate business rivals.
Any Syriatel assets held in the United States or within the possession or control of U.S. persons are now blocked, and U.S. citizens are prohibited from engaging in business or transactions with Syriatel or Ramak.
he operator is estimated to have had 2.8 million subscribers at the end of September, according to figures from the Mobile World. The equates to a market share of 49.5% - with the remainder held by SpaceTel Syria
Turkcell last December announced that it is in talks to take a majority stake in the Syriatel - although nothing has been said since then.
Last May, the US government also applied sanctions on Sudan based mobile phone company, Sudatel - as part of the pressure on the Sudan government to curb the violence in its Western Darfur region.
Posted to the site on 10th July 2008
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/32334.php