Rami Makhlouf
| Rami Makhlouf رامي مخلوف |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
10 July 1969 Damascus, Syria |
| Nationality | Syrian |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Relatives |
Hafez Makhlouf (brother) Bashar al Assad (cousin) |
Rami Makhlouf (Arabic: رامي مخلوف, born 10 July 1969) is a wealthy Syrian businessman and the maternal cousin of President Bashar al-Assad. He is considered Syria's wealthiest man and one of the most powerful men in Syria; according to Syrian analysts he is part of al-Assad's inner circle and no foreign company can do business in Syria without his consent and partnership. Makhlouf owns Syriatel, the largest mobile phone network in Syria, along with other retail, banking and real estate companies.
Rami Makhlouf is related to the Assad family through his aunt, Anisa Makhlouf, who was the wife of the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. His personal wealth was estimated in 2008 to be about $6 billion. He was born on 10 July 1969.
Rami Makhlouf is the main owner of Syriatel, one of two licensed mobile phone companies in Syria. Besides Syriatel, he is involved in real estate, banking, free trade zones along the border with Lebanon, duty-free shops, and luxury department stores. According to the Financial Times, he is thought to control as much as 60% of the Syrian economy through his web of business interests.
Makhlouf was among a diverse group of connected insiders who monopolized the small, but growing, Syrian private sector in the 1990s. As President Hafez al-Assad prepared for his son's succession, the distribution of assets from privatization began to shift clearly in favor of the Makhloufs. Assad believed the Makhlouf family could be relied upon to support Bashar without reserve in the uncertain political environment that would follow upon his death, unlike other insiders, who had close financial ties to billionaire Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, such as former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam. Rami and his brother Ihab therefore enjoyed easy access to opportunities such as an exclusive license to operate a network of duty-free retail shops, where a significant portion of goods were redistributed inside the country. By the time Bashar assumed power in 2000, Rami Makhlouf was well established.
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Wikipedia