- Mahmoud Zuabi
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Mahmoud Zuabi
محمود الزعبيPrime Minister of Syria In office
November 1, 1987 – March 7, 2000President Hafez al-Assad Preceded by Abdul Rauf al-Kasm Succeeded by Muhammad Mustafa Mero Personal details Born 1935
Damascus, SyriaDied May 21, 2000 (aged 65)
Damascus, SyriaPolitical party ASBP Mahmoud Zuabi (arabic:محمود الزعبي) (Also, Zubi or al-Zoubi) (1935 – May 21, 2000) was Syria's Prime Minister from November 1, 1987 until March 7, 2000.
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Early life
Zuabi was born in 1935 in Khirbat Ghazalah, a village 75 miles south of Damascus, Syria, in the Hauran region. He had two sons and a daughter. He was Speaker of the Parliament from 1981 prior to being Prime Minister and was considered to be very close to President Hafez al-Assad until his sudden fall from grace. He is said to have committed suicide on Sunday May 21 2000, by shooting himself with a gun.
Prime Minister of Syria
Under the dictatorial leadership of Syria's President Hafez al-Assad who ruled from 1971 to 2000, Zuabi as Prime Minister presided over a ramshackle purportedly socialist governmental and economic system. Military and government officials exercised immense power and continue to do so. Only oil revenues kept the economy going. Even foreign aid programmes struggled to implement under the weight of bureaucratic obduracy.
Ubiquitous regulations including price-control had the effect most observers say of stifling legitimate enterprise. Many officials are forced into corruption to supplement meager salaries. It is said that corruption extended all the way to the top Syria's government.
When President Hafez al-Assad was showing signs of poor health in the late 1990s, supporters of his son Bashar started positioning him to succeed him as President. Hafez was also a major player in these maneuverings. Syria is a republic where there was no direct transfer of power envisaged in the constitution from father to son.
As Hafez al-Assad grew sick, it became clear both father and son had decided that Zuabi's days were numbered. Tackling corruption is a popular cause among most Syrians, who see the immense wealth created at their expense as a reason why the Syrian economy has struggled to grow. The dragging down of once swaggering officials, with punishments including jail and the confiscation and auction of their illegally obtained assets earned Bashar much kudos in the community.
In March 2000, Zuabi was replaced as Prime Minister by Mohammed Mustafa Mero, regarded by some as a reformer.
Currency crisis
During 1985-2000, Zuabi's administration failed to arrest the 90 per cent fall in the worth of the Syrian Pound from 3 to 47 to the US Dollar.
Downfall and the Airbus deal controversy
In May, Hafez al-Assad decided to expel him from the Baathist party and decided that Zuabi should be prosecuted over a scandal involving the French aircraft manufacturer Airbus. Zuabi and several senior Ministers were officially accused of receiving illegal commissions of the order of US$124 million in relation to the purchase of six Airbus 320-200 passenger jets for Syrian Arab Airlines in 1996. The indictment alleged that the normal cost of the planes was US$250 million, but the Government paid $374 million and Airbus sent on US$124 million to the senior ministers. Three others involved in the transaction, including the former minister for Economic Affairs and the former minister for Transport were sentenced to prison for ten years.
The French company Airbus denied paying off the Syrian officials. It is interesting to note the Syrian Government in September 2003 announced its intention of purchasing six more Airbus planes for the government airline. The official finding within Syrian courts that Airbus paid over a hundred million dollars in bribes to their officials is apparently not a factor in deciding whether to continue to do business with them, especially with Boeing aircraft and spare parts being difficult to attain due to unilateral US sanctions.
Suicide
In May 2000, while under house arrest, Zuabi committed suicide by gunshot rather than face trial.[1] Some question whether he took his own life. The Syrian Arab News Agency's official explanation was that he committed suicide after learning that a Syrian police chief had arrived at his house to serve a judicial notice requiring him to appear before an investigating judge to answer allegations of corruption in relation to the Airbus transaction. Three weeks after Zuabi's death, Hafez Al-Assad also died.
References
- ^ Kifner, John (July 11, 2000). "Syrians Vote To Confirm Assad's Son As President". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/11/world/syrians-vote-to-confirm-assad-s-son-as-president.html. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
Prime Ministers of Syria since 1920 Kingdom of Syria
(1920)French Mandate of Syria
(1920-1946)post established 1932 • H. al-Azm • al-Hasani • A. al-Ayyubi • Mardam Bey • al-Haffar • al-Bukhari • post vacant, 1939-41 • K. al-Azm • al-Hakim • al-Barazi • al-Ulshi • al-Jabiri • al-Khoury • al-JabiriSyrian Republic
(1946-1958)al-Jabiri • K. al-Azm* • Mardam Bey • K. al-Azm • al-Za'im • al-Barazi • H. al-Atassi • al-Kudsi • K. al-Azm • al-Kudsi • K. al-Azm • al-Hakim • al-Khatib • al-Dawalibi • Selu • Shishakli • al-Assali • al-Ghazzi • al-Khoury • al-Assali • al-Ghazzi • al-AssaliUnited Arab Republic
(1958-1961)Syrian Arab Republic
(1961-)al-Kuzbari • al-Nuss • al-Dawalibi • al-Azma • K. al-Azm • al-Bitar • al-Hafiz • al-Bitar • al-Hafiz • Zuaiyin • al-Bitar • Zuaiyin • N. al-Atassi • al-Assad • Kleifawi • M. al-Ayyubi • Kleifawi • al-Halabi • al-Kasm • Zuabi • Mero • al-Otari • Safar* actingSpeakers of the Parliament of Syria since 1919 al-Atassi* • Muayyad • al-Atassi • al-Khoury • al-Khoury • al-Jabiri • al-Khoury • al-Khoury • Kikhia • al-Dawalibi • al-Kudsi • al-Kuzbari • al-Kudsi • al-Hawrani • Sadat† • al-Kuzbari • Ghazzi • al-Atrash • al-Khatib • al-Yusufi • al-Halabi • al-Halabi • Hadid • Zuabi • Zuabi • Kaddoura • Kaddoura • Kaddoura • Kaddoura • al-Otari • al-Abrash • al-Abrash
*president of the Syrian National Congress †within the UARCategories:- 1935 births
- 2000 deaths
- Ba'ath Party (Syria) politicians
- Syrian politicians who committed suicide
- Prime Ministers of Syria
- Speakers of the Parliament of Syria
- Suicides by firearm in Syria
- Suicides in Syria
- Deaths by firearm in Syria
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