Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

SES International reportedly was the primary facilitatorfor the transshipment of weapons and munitions,as well as many other goods purchased outsideof UN channels, through Syria to Iraq. ISG judgesthat this close relationship may have been based, inpart, on Dr. Shalish’s personal friendship with theformer Presidential secretary, ‘Abd Hamid Mahmudal-Tikriti. According to captured SOMO records, halfof the goods paid for by the MIC through the goodscomponent of the Syrian protocol between March2000 and 2003 went through SES.• According to those deals recorded in the SOMOrecords, SES transactions during this periodamounted to $86.4 million.• According to an interviewee, SES officials did notparticipate in any negotiations between Baghdadand the supplier and were not privy to the details ofthe contracts signed between these entities.• Dr. Asif Shalish traveled to Baghdad to coordinateshipments of weapons and sometimes received cashpayments. At other times, the Iraqis reimbursedShalish by transferring funds from their overseasaccounts to an SES account in Syria.Syrian Government Complicity. Syrian front companieshad links to high-ranking government Syrianofficials because Syria became the primary route forIraq’s illicit imports over the last two years beforeOIF.• Asif Shawkat, the deputy director of Syrian MilitaryIntelligence, was involved in weapons tradewith Iraq, according to a high-level Iraqi official.Shawkat is the brother in law of Syrian Presidental-Asad. Multiple reports indicate that Shawkat’sbrothers, Mufid Makmud and Muhammad Mahud,managed his smuggling business.• The Al-Mas Group, one of the Syrian companiesthat worked with the MIC, is owned by Firas MustafaTlas, son of the former Syrian Defense MinisterMustafa Tlas. The Al-Mas Group was composed ofsix companies that officially handled civilian goodsbut also dealt in weapons and military technology.In middle to late 2002, Firas Tlas represented hisfather in a deal to sell weapons to Iraq, possiblyincluding missiles with a range of 270 km, accordingto Huwaysh.• A Syrian named Ramy Makluf, another relativeof Bashar al-Asad, reportedly owned the NurallahCompany, another firm that worked with the MIC.Makluf was involved in an effort to procure IGLAman portable air defense systems, Kornet antitankguided missiles, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs),heavy machine guns, and 20 million machinegunrounds for delivery to Iraq, according to a highlevelIraqi official. The contract for the delivery ofthese munitions was signed in 2002 with a sixmonthdelivery deadline, but the war intervenedbefore the delivery.According to captured documents, the Iraqi MIC, andthe Ministries of Trade, Defense, Industry, Transportationand Communication, and the PresidentialOffices (Diwan) signed contracts with the Syrianfront company, SES International Corporation, valuedat approximately $186 million starting from December2000 to March 2003. This figure differs markedlyfrom the amount reflected in the SOMO recordsmentioned earlier. This particular document alsoindicates the degree of regularity under which thesetransactions occurred between Iraq and the Syriancompany. SES signed 257 contracts with variousIraqi ministries during the three-year period. Thedocument also reflects how the Iraqi ministries signedthe contract with SES for a beneficiary company orother government organization.• For example, the MoD signed one $185,780 contractwith SES for the Presidential Office; the MICsigned another $1 million contract with SES for theAl-Qadisiyyah State Company.TurkeyAlthough not a direct source of illicit military goods,Turkey provided Iraq with significant revenuestreams that permitted the Iraqi Regime to fund itsillicit procurement activities. In addition to the UNOFF program, Turkey signed a trade protocol thatprovided substantial monetary and material resourcesfor Iraqi state institutions and procurement authorities.104