The Syrian president Bachar Assad, along with his cronies, have managed to use an aid loophole to obtain money frozen by the European Union, The Sunday Times reported.
According to the newspaper, Assad deceived European governments into releasing hundreds of millions of euros from frozen bank accounts by falsely claiming the money would be used for aid relief.
"British officials believe the cash, which was frozen throughout the European Union after the Syrian conflict broke out, may have been diverted to prop up the Assad leadership and to feed his army instead of the starving victims of the war," the daily said.
It also noted that the EU sanctions on Syria stipulate that assets can be unfrozen to purchase food for "humanitarian purposes".
"Britain has led successful efforts to close this loophole after discovering that Syrian businessmen with ties to Assad were abusing it to line their pockets and to fund the regime," The British newspaper stressed.
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