Syrian leader Bashar Assad's uncle was sentenced to four years in prison in France for using Syrian state funds to build a French real estate empire.
was sentenced to four years in prison in France on Wednesday for illegally using Syrian state funds to build a French real estate empire.
The anti-corruption groups that launched the legal proceedings against Rifaat Assad announced the decision by a Paris court, and hailed it as a new victory in long-running efforts to prosecute foreign leaders accused of hiding stolen money in France.and is now in his 80s, was tried in absentia for medical reasons.
Transparency International and French anti-corruption group Sherpa filed a complaint in 2013 accusing Assad of using shell companies in tax havens to launder public funds from Syria into France. His French holdings, which include several dozen apartments and two luxury townhouses in Paris, have been valued at $99.5 million — a sum the watchdog groups say is well beyond what he could have earned as a Syrian vice president and military commander.
Assad, brother to former President Hafez Assad, fled Syria after a falling-out with the former ruler and a failed coup attempt in 1984. Since then, Rifaat Assad and his large family have amassed a real estate empire across several European countries, while continuing to
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