Syria telecoms tycoon Rami Makhlouf makes rare video addressing Assad regime

Rami Makhlouf, the maternal cousin of Syria's Bashar Al Assad, has made a rare public statement addressing the president over an order to seize his assets.

In the video, posted to Facebook, the wealthy businessman said that he had offered money to "assist people" in Ramadan, but that he had received threats against his companies.

“After reports about a donation we planned to make during the holy month of Ramadan to assist our people, things went out of control," he said. "We received threats to stop our work, simply because we dared to publicly offer assistance to the needy ... Why the more grants we offer, the more the curse we receive?”

Syriatell has around 11 million users and pays 12 billion Syrian pounds in tax and 50 per cent of profits to the regime, Mr Makhlouf said in the video.

He claimed a government committee asked him for between 125 and 130 billion Syrian pounds for tax fraud, and said that President Al Assad should oversee distributing money from his company to the poor as "all the others cannot be trusted".

The Syrian regime has ordered a series of measures against companies belonging to Mr Makhlouf and his shares in Syria's largest mobile phone company, the state-owned Syrian Telecom Company (Syriatel).

It come as part of a move by the Syrian regime to force entrepreneurs and businessmen to pay millions of dollars as of last year to the Central Bank to save the country from bankruptcy.

The finance ministry decided last week to seize the assets of Abar Petroleum Service SAL, an oil and gas shipping company owned by Mr Makhlouf and registered in Beirut.

They said he had violated import rules and smuggled products worth 1.9 billion Syrian pounds into the country without paying the requisite fees.

Mr Makhlouf has been under international sanctions since 2008 due to his support for the regime.