Accused of “involving in corruption and misappropriation of public funds” | Regime general intelligence directorate prosecutes director of the company of geology in Homs and arrests several employees
Homs province: SOHR sources have reported that the regime general intelligence directorate arrested several employees in the general company of phosphate and geology in Homs, amid prosecution of the director of the company over accusations of “their involvement in misappropriation of public funds and signing fabricated contracts with foreign investment companies.”
According to SOHR sources, those employees were arrested by the air-force intelligence branch in Homs, while some employees of the company, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the issue, have confirmed to SOHR that the arrest of the employees and prosecution of the company’s director have been attributed to thefts and looting that took place during the presence of mercenaries of the Russian company of “Wagner” in phosphate mines in the eastern countryside of Homs. Those mercenaries worked for the benefit of Russian investment companies operating in this region, mainly “Story Trans Gaz” company, as the employees described.
SOHR sources have also confirmed that the looted money which have been estimated to be about 640 million Syrian liras through providing fake bills of purchasing metal equipment and repairing tools by the director of the Syrian company in coordination with the purchasing committee in the company, where five employees are involved in this accusation, and they have been arrested and held in the air-force intelligence branch in Homs city.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed information has been reported about the escape of the director of the company of geology to Lebanon and that he has been getting ready to leave to another country.
It is worth noting that, Al-Khateeb intelligence branch in Damascus had released the director of the company of geology in August, as he had been arrested over accusations of “involving in misappropriation of public funds.” The director’s family then were forced to pay three million USD in return for releasing him and allowing him to be back to his work.
It is also worth noting that General “Shafiq Al-Sarem” was entrusted to prosecute the company’s director and employees and all individuals involved in accusations related to corruption.
General “Shafiq Al-Sarem” is the chief of the air-force intelligence branch in Homs, and he has strong ties with Maher Al-Assad the brother of the Syrian regime president.
It is common knowledge now that most of the governmental companies of mining, mainly oil, gas and phosphate companies, work for the benefit of Russian and Iranian investment companies which have been granted prerogatives by Bashar Al-Assad since 2015, after the involvement of Russian and Iranian forces in oppressing the public uprising against the Syrian regime, which started in 2011.