Beirut fun park identified as key link between MP and Hezbollah financier on US sanctions list
A south Beirut amusement park serves as a commercial link between Hezbollah MP Amin Sherri, who the United States sanctioned on Tuesday, and a leading Hezbollah financier mentioned in Washington’s action, according to corporate records seen by The National.
Explaining its latest sanctions against Hezbollah, the US Department of Treasury said that Mr Sherri and Adham Tabaja “have continued to do business together despite the latter’s designation” in 2015 as a financier for the group.
“Sherri and Tabaja, among others, founded and were involved in a Lebanon-based company,” the US Treasury said, without naming the business in question.
Corporate records obtained by The National show that Mr Sherri is one of the founders of Fantasy World, a family fun park that the same records list Mr Tabaja as the majority owner and manager.
The Hezbollah MP does not appear to have any other direct commercial interests in Lebanon.
The US said Mr Tabaja had “direct ties” to senior Hezbollah officials and the group’s operational element, the Islamic Jihad Organisation.
In 2015, the US sanctioned one of his companies, Al Inmaa Engineering and Contracting, for providing “both financial support and organisation infrastructure” for Hezbollah. This year, the American Rewards for Justice programme offered $10 million (Dh36.7m) for information on three of Hezbollah’s financiers, including Mr Tabaja.
Al Inmaa carried out the project to build the Fantasy World amusement centre in 1999, according to the real estate company’s website.
In March 2018, Mr Sherri held a campaign meet-andgreet with voters at the Fantasy World restaurant, before the May elections in which he won a seat in parliament.
According to the US, Mr Sherri has “used the weight of his representative role within Hezbollah to influence decision-making and pressure financial institutions to assist Hezbollah in limiting the impact of US sanctions”. Washington said “Sherri also facilitated Tabaja’s access to Lebanese banks and was directed by Hezbollah Secretary General [Hassan] Nasrallah to settle issues related to his designation.”
Mr Sherri, a Beirut-native from a family that was active in Lebanon’s commercial and industrial sectors, first served in parliament from 2005 to 2009. As per a family death notice published this year in Lebanese news outlets, his brother-in-law, Ahmad Safa, is an executive board member of the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon, a watchdog body funded by Lebanon’s central bank.
Asked about his sanctioning by the US, Mr Sherri said he could “only smile”. Meanwhile, fellow Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad criticised the first sanctions imposed on Hezbollah politicians by the US.
“The US sanctions are an insult to the Lebanese people,” Mr Fayyad said in an interview with a local television station, calling on the Lebanese government and parliament to officially condemn it.
In addition to Mr Sherri, the
US on Tuesday sanctioned top Hezbollah politician Mohammad Raad and security official Wafiq Safa for “acting for or on behalf” of the Lebanese group, a key proxy of Iran that has fought on behalf of the Syrian government.
Matthew Levitt, a former US Treasury official who is the director of the counterterrorism and intelligence programme at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told The
National that it was “important to note the non-political actions of these Hezbollah politicians”. He pointed out that the US statement accused Mr Safa of exploiting ports and border crossings to aid contraband smuggling as well as working with Mr Raad to maintain a list of Hezbollah members to acquire foreign passports.
The US Treasury statement made several references to Mr Sherri’s business associate Mr Tabaja, saying that Mr Raad met the financier “to ensure Hezbollah’s funding mechanisms would remain open despite sanctions”. The US said that Mr Safa “maintained a close relationship” with Mr Tabaja.
Hezbollah is blacklisted by numerous countries, including the US, UK and Gulf states, as a terrorist group. The US Department of Treasury imposed more sanctions on Hezbollah-related persons and entities in 2018 than in any previous year.
That same year, US President Donald Trump signed into law a Congressional bill expanding sanctions on foreign entities that support Hezbollah and its agents.