U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Syrian's Assets

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration yesterday imposed economic sanctions against a prominent Syrian businessman as part of an effort to punish officials in Syria for alleged efforts to undermine the governments of Iraq and Lebanon.

The Treasury Department said the sanctions would be imposed on Rami Makhluf, who was identified as a prominent Syrian businessman and regime insider.

President Bush last week signed an executive order that expanded penalties against senior government officials in Syria and their associates who are judged to have benefited from public corruption. The Treasury Department order freezes any assets that Mr. Makhluf holds in American financial institutions and prohibits American citizens and firms from engaging in any business contacts with him.

Mr. Makhluf is the first cousin of Syrian president, Bashar Assad, and is considered one of the most powerful and influential businessmen in Syria. The 39-year-old controls the country's mobile phone network, SyriaTel, as well as other lucrative businesses.

"Rami Makhluf has used intimidation and his close ties to the Assad regime to obtain improper business advantages at the expense of ordinary Syrians," Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Stuart Levey, said in a statement. "The Assad regime's cronyism and corruption has a corrosive effect, disadvantaging innocent Syrian businessmen and entrenching a regime that pursues oppressive and destabilizing policies, including beyond Syria's borders, in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories," Mr. Levey said.

President Bush signed the executive order on February 13, one day after one of the world's most wanted and elusive terrorists, Imad Mughniyeh, was killed in a car bombing in Syria.

The new executive order builds on one Mr. Bush issued in 2004 that banned all American exports to Syria except for food and medicine. The 2004 order also banned flights to and from America to Syria and authorized the Treasury Department to freeze assets of Syrian nationals and entities involved in terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, occupation of Lebanon, or terrorism in Iraq.