EU Probes Cigarette Deal That May Have Aided Syria
Source: Wall Street Journal
The European Union is investigating whether its Syrian sanctions were violated by the sale of cigarettes to a firm linked to cousins of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to corporate documents seen by The Wall Street Journal.
The sale by a Swiss-based unit of Japan Tobacco Inc. in May 2011 went to a firm then at least partly owned by the Makhlouf family, according to the documents. The Makhloufs, first cousins of Mr. Assad, are helping finance his bloody crackdown on the Syrian uprising, according to both the U.S. and the EU.
Syrian dissidents said this sale and a larger one involving millions of cartons to the Syrian state tobacco company provided the regime with a cash infusion at a time of growing economic isolation, because the cigarettes could be resold for much more than they cost.
The dissidents added that the Assad government uses cigarettes as a form of payment for the irregular military forces and militias, known as the shabeeha, who have had a central role in its violent crackdown. "Cigarettes are a favorite form of payment for the shabeeha," said Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian dissident and human-rights activist based in Washington.
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