"Regain Yemen" reveals details about the oil trade and money laundering by the Houthis

The "Regain Yemen" initiative revealed, in a new report, the involvement of Yemeni commercial companies with local banks and exchange companies to smuggle Iranian oil and money laundering to finance the Houthis in their war in Yemen, with unlimited Iranian support.

The 53-page report, issued in Arabic and English, clarified that the Houthis worked to exclude Yemeni businessmen put others belonging to them in the front, and to establish oil companies, with the aim of circumventing international and US sanctions imposed, as well as to finance their wars to prolong the conflict in the Yemen.

About 30 companies are used by the Houthis as a front for importing Iranian oil, some of which operate in the liberated areas. These companies work with intermediary ones, in return for the latter receiving large price differences between the purchase price and the selling price at the fuel stations. The report said.

The intermediary companies were registered in the names of Houthi leaders of the second and third ranks as new businessmen, while bank accounts were registered for them in the commercial banks under their control, after they disrupted the role of the Anti-Money Laundering Department in the Central Bank, and ignored the investigation into the funds of the owners of these companies. The report added.

The most prominent of these intermediary companies are Star Plus and Black Diamond, which are owned by Salah Falitah, the brother of the official spokesman for the Houthi group, Muhammad Abdul Salam. The Black Diamond is followed by a number of other companies, including (Wazaracon, Top Food, and Good Hyper Commercial Company, where accounts were opened for them in banks to conduct business without investigation or auditing according to international standards. The report said it obtains secret documents support this.

The Bank of Yemen and Kuwait, which is the most implicated in the process of importing Iranian oil derivatives, is involved in smuggling the militia’s money to the Lebanese Hezbollah, after documents were proven about transfers from the same bank abroad without the arrival of oil derivatives in most cases. The report stated.

In addition, the Bank of Yemen and Kuwait, the Shamil Bank of Bahrain, and the Yemen International Bank provided great facilities to the Houthis, by creating bank accounts and fake checks, and then transferring the accounts to the Houthi leader Ibrahim Mutahar Al-Mo'ayad, a move designed to conceal the source of checks and accounts that are considered governmental and were withdrawn with overdrawn accounts in the Central Bank, which is controlled by the Houthis.

According to the report, the facilities provided by the Bank of Yemen and Kuwait, were registered in the name of "Black Diamond", which also transferred funds to more than one company, including Al-Sharafi Oil Derivatives Company.

In addition to the commercial banks, the Sweid Exchange Company and CAC Bank, which is under the control of the Houthis, are working for these companies, and engaging in speculation in the currency market on behalf of the militia, taking advantage of the time difference between receiving amounts from retailers in riyals and delivering them in dollars to import-export dealers, at a time when the militia's money changers benefit in the currency market. The report further said.

The report included a black list containing the names of Houthi leaders, local authorities, commercial companies and banks involved in supplying the Houthis with oil trade and money laundering. The report also brought together a set of information and details about the black market and how it is managed by the Houthis.

Recommendations

The report contained concrete recommendations:

- "Regain Yemen" called for not granting any fuel shipments imported through the companies mentioned in the report or entry licenses to the ports of the Republic of Yemen, and also called to adopt government conditions to qualify companies wishing to import fuel to Houthi areas, as well as approving the ports of government areas to import oil derivatives to Yemen.

- It called on all commercial banks, financial companies and exchange companies to check all documents of companies importing oil derivatives in order not to be exposed to local, regional and international sanctions.

- It recommended that the international community and the relevant and competent authorities tighten control and examination procedures for the documents of oil ships, as well as the quality of derivatives and their conformity with specifications, and to know the sources of these shipments in accordance with international resolutions to limit Iran’s supply of the Houthi militia with derivatives that used as a main source of financing war in the country.

"Regain Yemen" called on the Yemeni government and the Arab Coalition to reveal the information and data of companies importing oil derivatives to Yemen for public opinion and to implement the principle of transparency, integrity and freedom of information.

- It stressed the importance of international organizations providing data and information on humanitarian aid to Yemen, especially to Houthi-controlled areas, so that it would not be used militarily or to finance the Houthis' war.

- "Regain Yemen" appealed to the international and local community to issue a blacklist of all those who were proven to be involved in financing the Houthis with oil and to impose sanctions on them or those who provide any facilities.