Rifaat al-Assad Case: Money Laundering Allegations Across Europe

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This national audience will follow the May proceedings as the case against billionaire Rifat Assad, uncle of the Syrian autocrat, unfolds. The Marbella resident is accused in Spain of laundering and hiding property wealth estimated at 700 million euros. A second health update was requested within two months after the trial’s suspension on March 13. Assad has since been reported to have passed through hospital care, a fact confirmed to this newspaper by his legal counsel, Jorge Navarro of Molins Criminal Defense. Judicial sources confirm that Assad currently resides in Syria.

If the trial restarts, Assad’s defense will invoke the principle of res judicata, arguing that a final decision on the same matter already exists in France, according to Navarro.

Rifat Assad, now 85, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2020 for laundering and embezzling property and funds in France from 1996 to 2016. The sentence became final last year after his appeal was dismissed by the gala justice system. Prosecutors describe a vast real estate empire across Europe built through a criminal network that includes front companies and shell entities in multiple countries. France is moving to seize assets valued at about 90 million euros.

A parallel seizure could occur in Spain, where assets are estimated at 700 million euros, eight times higher than in France, according to the prosecutor who accessed the indictment reported by El Periódico de España of the Prensa Ibérica group. The office seeks the seizure of all movable and immovable property, including shares in companies tied to laundering activities.

Prosecutors are seeking eight years of imprisonment for Rifat Assad and a fine of 2.7 million euros. For eight relatives, including Assad’s children who are also represented by Navarro, sentences of six years and about 2.2 million euros each are requested. The relatives are alleged to have acted as “extras,” people who bear legal responsibility for tasks that belonged to another person.

The prosecutor contends that Assad maintained a family-style criminal operation with a clear division of duties. Relatives reportedly received fixed salaries for their roles, while the defendant himself did not hold formally recognized assets. Rifat al-Assad, who served as Syria’s vice president from 1984 to 1998, is said to have started this money laundering network in 1986 and to have continued its operations through the 2016 investigation in Spain.

Beginning in 1986, Rifaat al-Assad reportedly acquired 244 parking spaces in Spain through a Gibraltar-based company. The indictment states that investments expanded into real estate and businesses along the Costa del Sol, including prominent sites such as the Hotel Park Plaza Suites and Plaza Beach Banús in Benabola. In total, authorities estimate more than 500 properties were acquired in Spain between 1986 and 2005.

Ba’ath party member

Rifat Assad is described as a long-time Syrian leader who held the presidency by effectively controlling the country for decades. He rose to power alongside his brother, Hafez Assad, the father of the current president Bashar Assad, and was part of the apparatus that consolidated rule from 1971 to 2000. He is linked to the suppression of political opposition and later to the suppression of loyalist uprisings, aligning with Russia in the regional balance of power.

The nickname “Butcher of Hama” has followed him for alleged involvement in the 1982 anti-government crackdown in Hama, where Amnesty International reports a range of deaths. He fled Syria after a failed 1984 coup attempt against his brother. After his departure, Bashar Assad succeeded him as president.

In the years that followed, Assad split his residence between France and Marbella, with opposition estimates placing the total illicit funds around several billion euros. The prosecution notes that a $214 million exile arrangement was agreed after the attempted power seizure, while the overall illicit funding is pegged by opponents at around 4 billion euros.

Laundering in Gibraltar

The case points to Assad as a beneficiary of trusts registered in the Bahamas, forming a layered corporate structure meant to conceal true ownership of assets acquired with illicit funds from Syria.

Prosecutors describe a plan to place properties in Gibraltar to launder assets. The accusation states that a corporate framework was devised to acquire Spanish real estate using illegally sourced funds, concealing their origin and integrating them into Spain’s economy. The defense reportedly involved individuals who designed the framework in Gibraltar, who were later imprisoned, with licenses revoked by Rock authorities in 2010, and family members appearing in key roles.

The defense maintains that the aim was to shield ownership from public listing. Nevertheless, the case presents patterns of control indicating a unified family operation, with Assad’s sons Mohammed Ali and Sivar Assad among the principal managers who made major decisions.

In May, the judge will decide whether to proceed with the case after Assad’s new medical report emerges. If the court allows the case to move forward, it could reopen the lengthy investigation into the money flows and ownership structures that span several jurisdictions.

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