According to the report, a committee close to President Ahmad al-Shar’a has been holding quiet negotiations with oligarchs who profited during Bashar al-Assad’s rule. These include figures like Mohammed Hamsho and Khaldoun Al-Zoubi. The initiative avoids collaboration with Western governments or asset-tracing institutions, instead favoring domestic arrangements supervised by operatives known only by code names.

A notable figure in this strategy is “Abu Maryam the Australian,” previously associated with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s finances in Idlib and now heading a government-backed financial platform called "Sham Cash." He reportedly oversees the settlement process under tight confidentiality.

Western-based recovery organizations had proposed assisting the Syrian state in locating Assad-era assets abroad—mirroring efforts used with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi—but these offers were declined. Damascus prefers its internal method to avoid political entanglements and retain full control.

Businessmen Trade Wealth For Return

The current mechanism involves asking exiled Syrian business elites to surrender a portion of their foreign-held assets in exchange for permission to return to Syria and avoid legal pursuit. Mediators in Türkiye and Qatar have reportedly facilitated some of these deals. Discussions are ongoing with well-known tycoons like Samer Foz and Hussam Qaterji.

However, uncertainty remains over whether these private settlements will satisfy international sanctions regimes or remove individuals from Western blacklists. Intelligence Online notes that many of the businessmen involved are still subject to EU and US sanctions, despite striking financial deals with Damascus.