Bashar al-Assad, the former president of Syria, has been named the ‘Corrupt Person of the Year’ for 2024 by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
The organization, which investigates and exposes global corruption, awarded Assad the title for turning Syria into a haven for criminal enterprises and presiding over a regime that committed numerous human rights abuses.
The OCCRP report outlined the trajectory of Assad's rule, saying: “Coming to power in 2000 after the death of his father, Assad’s early promises of political liberalization quickly gave way to authoritarian practices.”
It further said: “Part of the Arab Spring, the 2011 Syrian uprising challenged his rule and escalated into a punishing civil war that lasted until Assad’s ouster this month [December]. His forces were accused of widespread human rights abuses, including torture, murder, the use of chemical weapons, mass detentions, and the targeting of civilians.”
The report further highlighted how Assad’s regime was financed by illicit activities: “Financed by Captagon production and other forms of organized crime, such as human and cigarette smuggling, antiquities theft, and the arms trade, Assad’s tenure has spread violence, drugs, and corruption throughout the region.”
A 2023 OCCRP investigation in collaboration with BBC News Arabic, Suwayda24.com, and Daraj.com detailed how Syria’s descent into a narco-state pitted Assad’s drug traffickers against security forces in neighboring Jordan and Lebanon.
After his ouster, Assad fled Syria with “an estimated tens of billions of dollars in looted wealth to a life of comfortable exile in Russia, leaving behind a legacy of destruction.”
Alia Ibrahim, co-founder of Daraj.com and one of the judges in the contest, remarked on the extent of Assad’s corruption, saying: “In addition to being a dictator like his father before him, Assad added unimaginable dimensions of crime and corruption, ruining the lives of countless people even outside the border of his own country. The political, economic, and social damage caused by Assad, both in Syria and in the region, will take decades to overcome.”
Assad faced competition from other high-profile figures who were also finalists for the 2024 title. Among them were former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina and Indian businessman Gautam Adani.
The OCCRP, established in 2006, has been recognizing the most corrupt individuals and organizations since 2012 as part of its mission to shed light on global corruption and organized crime.
Previous winners of the ‘Corrupt Person of the Year’ award include notable figures such as Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko (2021), Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (2020), and Russian President Vladimir Putin (2014).
This annual recognition seeks to draw attention to how corruption, authoritarianism, and organized crime continue to impact the lives of ordinary people across the world, while often being shielded by the powerful.
