Syria used offshore firms to fund war

Panama Papers show three shadow companies in the Seychelles also helped the Assad regime to avoid US sanctions

BEIRUT // Syria’s regime has avoided international sanctions and funded its war effort through shadow companies, the Panama Papers have revealed. Three Syrian companies – Pangates International, Maxima Middle East Trading and Morgan Additives Manufacturing – used Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to form shadow companies in the Seychelles, French newspaper Le Monde reported.

The Panama Papers, 11.5 million documents leaked from the law firm, have been the subject of a year-long investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists into financial dealings by global elites.

The US has slapped sanctions on the three companies over claims that they provided petroleum, including aviation fuel, likely to be used by president Bashar Al Assad’s military.

Since the start of Syria’s war in 2011, more than 250,000 people have been killed and thousands of homes destroyed. The leaked documents show Mossack Fonseca continued to work with at least one of the companies, Pangates, until at least nine months after the sanctions were announced.

Pangates belongs to the Damascus conglomerate Abdulkarim Group, which is close to the Syrian government.

Mr Al Assad’s billionaire cousin Rami Makhlouf, who is facing sanctions, was shown to have a long history of holding registered companies in tax havens.

Syria’s most notorious tycoon, Mr Makhlouf founded shadow companies such as Drex Technologies, registered in the British Virgin Islands in 2000.

It took Mossack Fonseca a decade to become concerned about Drex. In 2011, the law firm cut its ties with Mr Makhlouf just after the outbreak of the revolt against Mr Al Assad.