Baladi News – Damascus (Hussam Mohammed)
Official and semi-official pro-regime media reported that officials at the government of Prime Minister Wael Al-Halqi as well as security personnel embezzled millions of Syrian pounds from the funds of the Mezzeh Campus, the main university campus in Damascus.
The reports estimated that embezzled materials are worth at least fifteen million Syrian pounds, corresponding to 32 thousand dollars, “all of which were peculated by warehousemen and security personnel responsible for safeguarding the campus.”
The sources also indicated that “competent authorities” held the previous warehouses manager responsible for the stealth that was discovered during an inventory of the campus warehouses.
One of the Assad’s supporters commented on the incident, “Government of Wael Al-Halaqi wants to impute all thefts and embezzlements to the previous manager of the warehouses, although the reports of the inspection committee, which were issued before the man left, showed no losses in the stock. After exposing the current embezzlers, the government wants to acquit the huge thieves controlling the campus and accuse small ones, such as the previous warehouses manager.”
Mona Zine El Abidine, a Syrian regime supporter from Tartous, had another viewpoint. She commented, “Our impartial judiciary acquitted the corrupt inspection committee, which participated in the embezzlement, and threw all accusations at one thief,”
Media activist, Qassem al-Midani, said from Damascus to Baladi News Network that the campus is one of the main headquarters of Popular Committees’ militias near Damascus University. A big number of members of National Union of Syrian Students, directed by “Ammar Saati”, one of the biggest supporters of the regime and a faithful friend Maher al-Assad, reside in the campus as well.”
The activist added that “Since the beginning if the Syrian uprising, the campus has been managed by intimate companions of Ammar Saati. Even vendors and investors therein are members of national defence militia. This network only is responsible for the embezzlements as well as for ignoring molestations of national defence militants against girls in the campus.”