The Central Authority for Supervision and Inspection announced today, Wednesday, October 8, that it uncovered irregularities in the disbursement and distribution of cash during an inspection tour at one of Syria’s public banks, without revealing the bank’s name.

In a statement via its Telegram channel, the authority said it detected “violations and favoritism” in the allocation of cash to certain groups at the expense of others, noting that some “unjustified exceptions” had been granted.

The value of these irregular disbursements to companies and individuals exceeded ten billion Syrian pounds (around 770,000 USD), according to the authority.

It added that several measures were taken against those responsible, including:
– Suspension of several employees.
– Referring the violations for investigation to complete legal procedures.
– Proposing executive solutions to reduce crowding and ensure pension payments reach beneficiaries “easily and with dignity.”

Corruption in “Syrian Airlines”

The authority also reopened one of the corruption cases previously uncovered by the Central Auditing Organization during the former regime’s rule, involving the reservation offices and the Commercial and Marketing Directorate at “Syrian Airlines.”

A source familiar with the case, who requested anonymity, told Enab Baladi that a specialized team within the authority began investigating an embezzlement case exceeding 13 billion Syrian pounds through the issuance of fake airline tickets that were settled outside legal channels. The team has begun hearing testimonies related to the case.

The source added that “Syrian Airlines” has become central to the authority’s investigations after the team obtained documents exposing a network within the company that exploited electronic access to the central booking and issuing system to embezzle billions in Syrian and foreign currency.

A former official in the Commercial and Marketing Directorate at the airline told Enab Baladi that the authority has summoned two former directors of “Syrian Airlines” and a technical director to testify in connection with the embezzlement and forgery case.

Poor Ranking on the Corruption Index

Transparency International released its 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) results in February, ranking Syria the fourth most corrupt country in the world with a score of 12 out of 100.

Although Syria’s score marked a slight improvement compared to 2023, when it ranked second alongside Venezuela with 13 points, the organization noted that most countries scoring lowest on the index are fragile and conflict-affected states.