Syria: Ten directors general removed in Syria over corruption

The Syrian authorities last Thursday exempted ten general directors of companies for reasons mostly related to corruption.

Well-informed sources in Damascus said the Baath Party's regional committee, which is in charge of appointing directors general in the public sector, had exempted 10 directors from the ministries of electricity, irrigation and industry and the public-sector construction companies from their posts.

The sources indicated that a "few of the exemptions were due to having the directors reached the age of retirement or in line with the decision to move the directors in the public sectors every seven years."

The Baath Party's regional leadership is composed of two members of the party's regional leadership, Walid Hamdoun and Ezz eddin Nasser, and the two deputy prime ministers, Salim Yassin and Rashid Akhtareini. It is presided over by the Prime Minister Mahmoud al-Zou'bi.

Such removals fall in the context of the corruption-fighting campaign led by Col. Bashar al-Assad for more than two years.