اخبار سوريا اليوم – وطن نيوز
سوريا اليوم – اخبار سوريا عاجل
W6nnews.com ==== وطن === تاريخ النشر – 2026-01-22 15:55:00
In the period after the fall of the ousted Assad regime, the Central Authority for Oversight and Inspection is working to rebuild its oversight system and expand its legal and administrative tools, in an attempt to address a long legacy of systematic corruption and enhance local and international confidence in state institutions, amid major challenges related to weak cadres, overlapping powers, and the decline of Syria’s ranking in global transparency indicators. In October 2025, representatives of the World Bank in Damascus discussed with the Central Oversight and Inspection Authority, the Central Financial Supervision Organization and the Ministry of Finance the public finance reform project document, within the framework of joint cooperation to enhance the efficiency of public money management and develop financial control and governance systems in Syria. During the meeting, aspects related to enhancing financial transparency, developing internal and external control mechanisms, and supporting the institutional capabilities of regulatory bodies were discussed, which contributes to the optimal use of public resources and improving the efficiency of public money management. An international private legal firm. In an interview with Enab Baladi, an official source in the authority revealed a series of regulatory, legal and technical measures, which included creating new departments, activating specific offices, and launching digital platforms, in parallel with expanded coordination with ministries and regulatory and judicial agencies, in an effort to consolidate oversight work as an actual, not formal, accountability tool. The responsible source said that the Central Authority put forward a number of names of those close to the ousted regime and the head of the regime itself in its sessions and discussions with many countries during foreign working visits, to recover the funds and assets looted by the head of the defunct regime, Bashar al-Assad, and those close to him, such as Rami Makhlouf and Asma al-Assad. He revealed the existence of coordination and cooperation with an international private legal firm to follow up on the looted Syrian assets in countries around the world (without disclosing what the “in-kind and real estate” assets are being pursued). The authority is also taking “legal and political steps to recover looted funds abroad.” The source added that most of the cases we are working on are supervisory, inspectional and investigative, and decisions are taken in accordance with them, whether to stop the hand, terminate the assignment, preventive detention, travel ban, or referral to the judiciary. He stated that there are criminal investigations before the competent judiciary based on cases investigated by the Authority in crimes of embezzlement, waste of public money, and abuse of credit, and the majority of coordination by the Authority is with the Ministries of Justice, Interior, Finance, and the Central Financial Supervision Agency, which participates with the Authority in some oversight work. The first half of 2025 witnessed the registration of about 1,400 corruption cases by the Central Oversight and Inspection Authority, of which approximately 200 cases were referred to the judiciary, and between 1,350 and 1,400 people involved were referred to the competent judicial authorities, and the confirmation of financial amounts estimated at about 350 billion Syrian pounds being collected, and the collection of more than 100 billion Syrian pounds deposited in the state’s public treasury. Amer Al-Ali, head of the Central Oversight and Inspection Authority, said in a press statement that Syria ranked 177th in the fight against corruption. Syria’s ranking in the International Corruption Perceptions Index for 2024 (fighting corruption) comes in 177th place out of 180 countries in the world, which places it among the most corrupt countries in the world, coming after Somalia, Venezuela and South Sudan, which reflects a continuing deterioration in the fight against corruption in the Syrian public sector. The source attributed this lag behind other countries in the fight against corruption to the fragile regulatory reality during the time of the former regime, and its evasion of international obligations, stressing that the Commission is striving to improve Syria’s rank in the fight against corruption by enhancing standards of transparency and integrity, especially since this matter leads to investors’ reluctance to invest in Syria. He added, “When the investor sees the high level of corruption in Syria, he will refrain from investing in it.” “We seek to adopt international anti-corruption standards and to improve Syria’s classification on the transparency index,” Eng. Amer Al-Ali, head of the Central Authority for Oversight and Inspection, said in an interview with Al-Ikhbariya channel. Supervisory and supportive departments in the central authority. The source said that 29 departments have been created in the authority covering public, private, and joint entities whose work the authority audits. Each department consists of 15 to twenty inspectors, legal officers, and administrators. The inspection reports end with a set of decisions being taken or recommended in cooperation with the concerned public authorities. There are 10 directorates in the Authority that support the work of the supervisory inspection departments, according to the source, and specific offices have been created in the Authority, such as the Anti-Illicit Graft Office, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, and the Stolen Assets Recovery Office. The National Anti-Illicit Graft Committee in Syria works to achieve justice by applying the principle of “no one is above the law,” to be a decisive tool in recovering stolen funds and holding accountable everyone who abused power.” Basil Suwaidan, Chairman of the National Anti-Graft Committee, said in a press statement: “Automation” of complaints and an office for witness protection. The Authority is working to automate supervisory work to permanently abolish reliance on paperwork and reliance on electronic signatures. The Authority has established a Directorate of Digital Transformation, and competencies have been brought in from abroad. The source confirmed that at some point it will be possible to completely stop relying on papers in cases and mail, with the exception of papers in correspondence between the head of the authority and public bodies only. A platform has been created in the Authority to receive complaints and reports while maintaining the confidentiality of the name of the complainant or the informant, or to submit a complaint without disclosing the name. The complainant has the option, and an electronic application for complaints will be launched at the end of this month, to be used via mobile phone, after the completion of the work team that will receive complaints, audit them, and refer them to the relevant departments of the Authority. As for employees who file complaints about practices in the entities in which they work, the Authority is committed to protecting them functionally and security-wise, through an office created in the Authority called the Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers and Witnesses, and the manager of this employee will not be able to transfer, punish, or harm him. Spreading oversight awareness and the confidentiality of inspection tours. The Authority spreads oversight awareness among employees and citizens through workshops it implements in the governorates with the participation of governors, elected members of the People’s Assembly, media professionals, notables, local councils, and citizens. The source stressed that all Syrians are called upon not to offer any bribe to any government employee, and to report any cases of blackmail to which they are exposed. There is complete confidentiality in the inspection tours, the source adds, as the central inspector in each department is informed of the date and location of the inspection process two days before it takes place, and he is prohibited from informing any member of the administration about it. When the time for the operation comes, the integrated inspection team visits the inspected entity, and the team members are distributed across all departments and departments of that entity. In this way, very distinctive results were achieved, and the reality, whether service or economic, was seen as it is without embellishment, indicating that the tours demonstrated the existence of an urgent need in a number of public institutions for competencies and the restoration of cadres. The Authority’s oversight of the private sector. In response to a question from Enab Baladi about the Authority’s oversight of the private sector, the source confirmed that the Authority has the right to monitor, in accordance with the instrument of its creation, the private sector in the fields of education and health, and this includes schools and private hospitals. The Authority had a surprise inspection tour of a number of private hospitals. He pointed out that such files are huge, and require great and intense efforts when the authority reaches a higher stage of stability in supervisory work and organizing procedures. Last September, the Central Authority for Control and Inspection carried out several oversight rounds at private hospitals in Damascus, during which all medical floors and departments were inspected, samples were taken, compliance with health services stipulated in operating licenses was verified, and actual clinical capacity was matched. The Authority’s supervisory teams checked the health safety standards in the aforementioned private hospitals, through bacterial swabs in intensive care departments, incubators, and operating rooms, to submit laboratory results and technical reports to take appropriate measures, including warning and immediate correction or imposing penalties when necessary, in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations. Intertwining and duplication with “Financial Supervision.” The powers and competencies of both the Central Authority for Control and Inspection and the Central Financial Supervision Authority are intertwined in more than one supervisory axis, due to the ambiguity and bias of some legal texts in the instrument creating both the Authority and the Agency, during the time of the previous regime. Enab Baladi published a report, in October 2025, based on documents it obtained about an investigative report issued by the Central Financial Supervision Agency in 2024, about corruption amounting to billions in the Syrian Aviation Corporation during the time of the previous regime. After the fall of the regime, the Central Authority for Oversight and Inspection reopened the investigation into the same case, which is an indication of the overlap of oversight powers in both the authority and the agency. The source said that the media has an important role, alongside regulatory bodies, in combating corruption and highlighting deficiencies in public agencies. He added that there is actually duplication of oversight work between the Authority and the Agency, explaining that work is being done to amend Legislative Decree No. 64 of 2003, which establishes the Central Authority for Financial Supervision, which established the Agency as an “independent oversight authority” linked to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, with the aim of achieving effective oversight of state funds and the financial performance of executive agencies, with broad powers to investigate financial, administrative and economic violations. Regarding the interactions, he confirmed that the former regime removed a number of powers from the jurisdiction of the central authority, and granted them to the agency in a kind of corruption, to grant certain cases (per se) to the agency and other issues to the authority. Work is currently underway to prepare a draft law by the Authority to amend the decree establishing it, and a draft law by the Agency to amend the decree establishing it, so that the State Council will be responsible for separating the powers and authorities of the Authority and the Agency, and ending the state of perpetuating corruption that was created by the previous regime. The source confirms that there is currently coordination between the Commission and the Agency to share investigative cases, while seeking complete separation of competencies so that there is no waste of oversight efforts and exhaustion of public institutions. The Central Financial Supervision Organization is an independent body affiliated with the President of the Republic, exercising its powers over ministries, public administrations, and bodies of an administrative nature, in addition to public companies and institutions of an economic nature, and entities that receive state subsidies or whose capital the state contributes to.” Corruption, which was held in the Qatari capital, Doha, said that combating corruption is an irreversible strategic choice and a basis for rebuilding the state on the rules of good governance and the rule of law in Syria. The Syrian News Agency (SANA) quoted Al-Ali as saying that the new Syrian government is serious about establishing an integrated system of integrity, transparency and accountability. Al-Ali pointed out that the Syrian state has taken over dilapidated institutions, suffering from structural corruption that was entrenched during the era of the former regime, which was weakened. Public administrations, marginalizing standards of competence and merit, undermining oversight and accountability mechanisms, and transforming corruption from an individual case into an integrated system, negatively affected citizen confidence in institutions, and a decline in Syria’s position on international integrity and transparency indicators
