Syria’s stock market stops trades of Rami Makhlouf’s telecom company

Jun 2, 2020

Syria’s stock market announced today that it would stop trading shares of Syriatel, the country’s largest telecommunications company, which is owned by Bashar al-Assad’s embattled cousin Rami Makhlouf.

Syria’s Commission of Financial Markets said the suspension would last indefinitely and was designed to protect shareholders, The Associated Press reported.

The move is the regime’s latest step in consolidating power over Makhlouf, who is believed to have at one point controlled as much as 60% of Syria’s economy, but has apparently fallen out of favor with Assad.

Makhlouf went public against the crackdown last month, posting videos to Facebook in which he appealed directly to the president.

Syria’s telecommunications regulatory body gave Syriatel four days’ notice May 1 to accept a repayment plan for some 230 billion Syrian pounds (about $450 million). The government then froze Makhlouf’s assets and imposed a travel ban on him.