Hussam Qaterji, the corrupt parliament member is one of Bashar al-Assad's sincere businessmen who was subjected to European sanctions in January 2019, for his role in providing oil derivatives and wheat for the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Syrian regime.
Reuters published an investigation of Qaterji Group’s role in oil provision on 11 October 2017, titled “How a businessman struck a deal with Islamic State to help Assad feed Syrians
The Qaterji International Group is owned by the brothers Husam, Mohammed and Baraa Katerji. The brothers rose through the ranks of Syria's financial and business world during the armed conflict and against the backdrop of huge oil deals between the regime and the Islamic State before its demise in the eastern region, during which the Qaterjis were the main intermediaries. Later, they entered the line of mediation and the transfer of oil resources between the Kurdish-controlled areas east of the Euphrates and the regime-controlled areas.
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Over the past two years, Qaterji Group has established Real Estate Development and Investment Company, and another for metal industries, and it is now entering the cement industry, with approximately US $300 million.
Last October, the Qaterji group has taken a significant step towards strengthening their control of most of the potential reconstruction in northern Aleppo province as the business family is close to taking over a cement factory near the city, with generous funding. This may be the beginning of privatization of the public sector, under the pretext of war losses.
According to an official at the General Organization for Cement and Building Materials, Qaterji International Group is negotiating an investment in al-Maslamia plant, near Aleppo, with approximately 200 billion SYP (about $300 million) to produce 3 million tonnes a year, in exchange for sharing the revenues according to rates to be agreed upon.
Syrian newspaper, Aliqtisadi, published the statement of the official who said that the company is negotiating with the Katerji Group to establish new cement lines and to rehabilitate damaged factories in Aleppo. According to the newspaper, the losses of al-Maslamia Cement Factory amounted to about $250 million.
In addition to the investment in the cement plant, Qaterji Group entered into negotiations to establish a "real estate development zone", in the vicinity of Sheikh Saeed factories, an area of more than 100 hectares.
Observers believe that the investment agreement of al-Maslamia Cement Factory, if closed, would be a form of privatization of the public sector.
Zaman Al Wasl
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