Woman who controls refugees fund raises dilemma

Suhair Atassi, vice-president of the National Coalition and the woman who leads Aid and relief file in the key Syrian opposition is facing mounting accusations by Syrian activists over allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

More than 25 employees in the Aid Coordination Unit “ACU” which operates under Coalition umbrella have signed a petition against Attasi, demanding for a new opposition figure to lead the coalition ‘treasury’; the Unit that controls all funds for Syrian refugees and displacements but no response yet from the coalition command.  

Source said that some of the employees had been fired. 

A major social media campaign sparkled against Attasi who was born in Damascus and descends from a prominent family in Homs.

Attasi have used a similar speech to Syrian regime in addressing the employees’ petition by such conspiracy on the aid unit and its officials, activists said.

ACU staff explained that their reason of strike was to minimize the Atassi practices and to fight corruption.

Atassi on the other hand, explained that strike has come within a systematic campaign to defame the ACU and most strikers who do not exceed 25 members out of 65, are correlated to other parties outside the unit.

The head of ACU added that administration has taken professional procedures, and all strikers and signatories were contacted and promised to look in the point they highlighted, and were given a chance to return to work, and some of them have resumed work immediately.

The ACU was formed in December 2012, by the Syrian National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces to facilitate collecting and distributing aid to Syrian badly affected by the struggle in Syria.

Reporting by  Yusra Ahmed and Redha Ali