Syrian Industrialist Calls For Recovering Funds Frozen in Lebanese Banks

Syrian Industrialist Calls For Recovering Funds Frozen in Lebanese Banks

An established Syrian industrialist called Sunday on the government in Damascus to act for recovering the Syrian funds stuck in Lebanese banks.

Fares Shebahi, the chairman of Syria's Federation of Chambers of Industry and head of Aleppo's Chamber of Industrialists, said that “it is no longer a secret to anyone that the Syrian State needs every lira it can get, today before tomorrow.”

In a post on his Facebook account, Shehabi said he could not understand the lack of official action in this regard.

He estimated the amount of Syrian funds frozen in Lebanon at $20 billion and accused what he said were “Lebanese banks thieves ” of looting the money.

Shehabi then stated that a Jordanian businessman was capable of seizing the properties of some Lebanese banks abroad to collect his own deposits at Lebanese banks estimated at $40 million.

He called on the government to move through the intermediaries of international legal companies to collect what it can from the Syrian funds.

Economic sources in Damascus told Asharq Al-Awsat that Syrian traders, industrialists, and businessmen had previously proposed, during their meetings with government officials, to act in order to recover the frozen Syrian funds.

Their request came after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a