Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-09-17.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assets of (a) President Assad and (b) the Syrian government have been frozen in the UK; and what the value is of those assets.

Harriett Baldwin

In view of the situation in Syria, Council Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 of 18 January 2012 imposed an asset freeze against listed Syrian individuals and entities. The EU Regulation, which has direct effect in the UK, requires that all funds and economic resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled by listed persons are frozen.

Those listed under this regime include natural and legal persons, entities and bodies who have been identified as being responsible for the violent repression against the civilian population in Syria, persons and entities benefiting from or supporting the regime, and natural or legal persons associated with them. These persons and entities include, but are not limited to, President Assad and several members and agencies of the Syrian government.

The approximate aggregate value of funds frozen in UK jurisdiction under EU Regulation 36/2012 is £151,080,000 (based on an annual audit in September 2014). These funds continue to belong to the individuals and entities listed under the Regulation and are not seized or otherwise held by HM Government.

The Regulation states that HM Treasury can use this information only for the purpose for which it was provided. In order to comply with this requirement, and to comply with UK data protection law, the figure is provided on an aggregate basis so as not to disclose data relating to funds held by particular individuals or entities.

HM Treasury publishes the names of those subject to EU financial sanctions on the Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets in the UK, which can be found on the gov.uk website.