Syria is fighting yesterday’s corruption, not today’s

Syria is grappling with corruption that extends beyond the era of the Assad regime, as evidenced by a recent investigation into oil production and contracting in Deir ez-Zor. The Central Authority for Control and Inspection uncovered serious irregularities, estimating the damage to public funds at around $28mn. This marks one of the largest corruption cases uncovered during the transition, involving nine officials suspected of misconduct.

While Syria's anti-corruption efforts have primarily focused on recovering assets and investigating illicit enrichment from the Assad era, this case highlights the need for emerging business elites to face effective safeguards against exploiting weak oversight and opaque contracting procedures. The investigation revealed over $8mn in alleged damage to public funds and $20mn in price differences associated with crude-oil transportation contracts.

It also led to the suspension of nine officials and termination of contracts with several companies and contractors. The case underscores the importance of transitioning from merely recovering stolen wealth to establishing robust safeguards to prevent new networks from capturing state resources during the transition.

Brief written by urgent.news from Al Majalla English's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.