Syria Today | Damascus Governorate on trial for corruption

Damascus Governorate on trial for corruption

Syria’s Attorney General office filed a lawsuit on May 5 against high-placed officials in Damascus Governorate about issues relating to the governorate’s former Director of Traffic and Transport Engineering Tariq al-Asmi.

The case includes Damascus Deputy Governor Sahar al-Hafar, Executive Office member Khaled al-O’labi, and contractors Ayman Zohaili and Muhammad al-Halabi. Charges against them include corruption, conversion, malversation and interfering with contractors.

In March, security agents arrested Asmi, his assistant Maher Beraqdar and two other contractors on corruption charges. They were accused of signing illegal contracts for road improvement projects to be carried out by the governorate’s Traffic and Transport Engineering Directorate and various contractors.

Syria’s state-run Tishreen newspaper reported the corruption came to light after one of the contractors filed a complaint following an argument with Asmi.

Recent local media reports have exposed a series of fraudulent actions committed by staff at Damascus Governorate. Raised pavement markers, which cost SYP 100 (USD 2.10) a piece on the open market cost Damascus Governorate SYP 485 (USD 10.20) a piece, the online news site Syria News reported. Repairs to a 10-kilometre stretch on Damascus’s southern ring road were billed at SYP 850m (USD 17.9m).

The same sources reported that the project to upgrade Abassiyin Square, which had originally been awarded to one contractor under a SYP 150m (USD 3.1m) contract, was awarded to five other contractors who each signed SYP 50m (USD 1.05m) contracts for the job.

The case against the governorate comes after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad urged government ministries to root out corruption in government offices at a ministerial meeting on May 3.

On May 18, Syria’s Minister of Industry Fouad Issa al-Jouni announced he will crack down on corruption in the ministry and its affiliated institutions.

Jouni told Syria’s state-run news agency SANA that corruption in the ministry resulted from its inefficient bureaucratic system, low rates of pay, a lack of accountability and national awareness about the issue.

Jouni said he will take several measures to stamp out corruption. These include referring ministry employees suspected of being corrupt to an investigative committee and implementing new strategies to reduce the temptation of employees to resort to corrupt practices.

“We must take action to combat this phenomenon [corruption] before it occurs, by increasing salaries and changing the administrative and institutional work environment,” Jouni told local media.