Syrian Shipping Tycoon Sentenced Jail Term By UK Court

A Syrian shipping tycoon, earlier accused by the US on the grounds of financing the Houthis and being involved in sending oil to Hezbollah, has been given a jail sentence in the UK on the grounds of lying to a court.

Abdul Jalil Mallah has been sanctioned and marked as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for his involvement in specific deals that the US Treasury observed were worth millions of dollars.

Sanctions on the Houthis and Sa’id al-Jamal, an associate of Mallah, have been ramped up over the recent months since the Yemen-based group started launching brutal attacks on western shipping in the waters of the Red Sea. Mallah, 49, found himself taken to court in London by a US firm, Oaktree Capital Management, in a bid to recover two vessels it had lent him money to buy after it ended the deal when he was placed under sanctions.

Judge Sara Cockerill has now ruled Mallah to have deliberately lied to the court, provided several false statements, and included forged documents. She sentenced him to 18 months in jail for contempt of court after stating that he showed no remorse.

OCM had extended finance aid for one of Mallah’s firms to buy the two vessels that had then been chartered by other businesses he owned, a kind of deal expected in the world of shipping.

However, when he came under sanctions in 2021, the OCM moved to repossess the vessels and took the matter to the High Court (London), awarded them costs up to £1 million. Initially, he failed to respond to a court order that asked to declare his assets, and when he did, he provided a witness statement suggesting he had not received the notice in Greece, where he was living at that time.

Mallah submitted forged documents that showed those were from the government of Greece to be from the Greek authorities, reflecting that he’d left the nation before the notice was served, which resulted in a contempt of court hearing. Judge Cockerill stated it was “inherently implausible” that the Greek authorities would share tailored documents to state he left the nation and that some inquiries conducted via Interpol proved these to be “counterfeit”.

Mallah also shared demonstrably false claims not to be the beneficial owner of properties in Greece and Sweden. She found him guilty of three counts he faced, including giving a false statement to the court about his whereabouts and failing to disclose assets.

Mallah’s evidence has been discredited, and he cannot have any justification for his actions, the judge explained, adding that there was “no question” of acknowledging guilt or offering to correct what he has committed. Judge Cockerill ordered the seizure of Mallah’s assets in the UK along with a warrant regarding his arrest as he’s currently living in Syria. One of the vessels involved, the Amethyst, was reportedly repossessed in Sharjah. However, the other, the Courage, headed to the Syrian waters. Both OCM-owned firms and Mallah’s are registered with the Marshall Islands.

Per relevant US authorities, Mallah enabled the transactions worth millions of dollars to Swaid and Sons, a Yemeni exchange house linked with the Houthis. He has collaborated with Sa’id al-Jamal to send Iranian crude oil worth millions of dollars to Hezbollah. Al-Jamal, a Houthi financial supporter, heads a network of front firms and vessels involved in smuggling Iranian fuel, petroleum products, and other kinds of commodities to customers in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The US Treasury stated that a substantial part of the revenue generated from sales is directed via a complex international network of intermediaries and exchange houses to the Houthis.

Mallah came under sanctions for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, and/or tech support for, or goods/services to/in support of, Sa’id al-Jamal. In March this year, the US issued new sanctions targeting two firms and two vessels that the Treasury Department mentioned had facilitated commodities shipments on behalf of al-Jamal.

The action primarily targets two Marshall Islands- and Hong Kong-based ship owners and two vessels for the role they played in shipping commodities. In February 2024, the UK put al-Jamal under sanctions along with some units of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for enabling the work of the Houthis.

References: Thenationalnews

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