Makhluf, Rami

Rami Makhluf comes from the Alawite family Makhluf, belonging to the Haddadin tribe. His aunt (father's sister) - Anisa Makhluf , was the wife of Hafez Assad . After he came to power in Syria in 1970, the Mahluf family received significant privileges. Rami Makhluf Muhammad Makhluf’s father made a fortune by working both in the management of state-owned companies and in the private sector. Uncle Rami Makhlufa Adnan Makhluf for a long time commanded the Presidential Guard ^[1] . Rami Makhluf is married to a Sunnite woman born in the province of Darnah.

Rami Makhluf is the owner and chairman of the board of directors of the largest Syrian mobile operator (up to 55% of the market) - SyriaTel . It is also believed that Makhluf controls imports to Syria of tobacco products and luxury cars, free trade zones and duty-free shops . Rami Mukhluf is the founder, owner of shares and vice chairman of the largest in Syria, a private holding company Cham Holding. The subsidiaries of this holding have interests in various fields: BENA does business in the hotel business and development ; Cham Capital Group - in the financial, banking and insurance sectors; SANA - in energy. The holding company includes Pearl Airlines. According to some estimates, Makhluf somehow controls up to 60% of the country's economy ^{[2] [3]} .

Makhluf also runs its business through other large companies, such as Ramak (mainly construction) and Drex Technologies. Makhluf's interests in the banking sector extend beyond the Cham Capital Group: he is an investor in a number of private banks operating in Syria: International Islamic Bank of Syria, Byblos Bank, Al Baraka Bank, International Bank of Qatar, Cham Bank, Bank of Jordan in Syria . Like his father, Rami Makhluf is active in the oil sector (through Gulfsands). He also controls the daily Al-Vatan and the Ninar radio station. The general condition of Makhluf is estimated at 6 billion dollars ^{[1] [4]} .

Rami Makhlufa is often accused of corruption and dishonest business. Many argue that no foreign company can conduct business in Syria without the consent of Makhluf. The story is known of the Egyptian company Orascom Telecom, which, along with Makhluf, was the founder of Syriatel, but then was forced to cede its block of shares (25%) to Mahluf. It is believed that one of the members of the Syrian parliament, Riad Seif, was imprisoned for criticizing the actions of Makhluf.

In 2008, the US Treasury banned any US firms and legal entities from conducting any business with Rami Makhluf, and also froze all of its US assets. Former Syrian Vice-President Abdel Halim Haddam in 2009 declared that “the Syrian government turns corruption into an institution,” which he named as the head of Rami Makhluf ^[3] .

During protests in Syria, Rami Makhluf became one of the main targets of the demonstrators ^[5] .

On May 23, 2011, the EU government imposed a series of sanctions on Rami Makhluf, accusing him of “financing the regime that permits violence against demonstrators”, and also called him “an accomplice of Maher al-Assad, ” which in the same document was called “the main implementer of violence " ^[6] .

In June 2011, he announced his retirement from business and switching to charitable activities ^[7] .

• Bashar Assad

• Bashar al-Assad's Inner Circle
• Rami Makhlouf, de l'affairisme à l'illusionnisme
• MidEast Monitor: Rami Makhlouf