A Syrian businessman placed on a US terrorism sanctions list has been ordered to reveal details of his property portfolio in the latest twist of a legal battle over terminated charters for two handysize bulkers.
Abdul Jalil Mallah is being pursued for costs by US-based investor Oaktree Capital Management (OCM), which ended two 25-month bareboat charters with companies the businessman controlled when he was named as part of an oil-trafficking network in June 2021. Reed Smith is acting as instructing solicitor for OCM.
Greece-based Mallah was accused by the US authorities of involvement in shipping Iranian crude oil to Syria. He was also linked with payments of millions of dollars to an exchange house connected to the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.
OCM regained control in March of the 31,800-dwt Courage (built 2009) and 34,400-dwt Amethyst (built 2014) when a London high court judge ordered three of Mallah’s companies to pay an initial £1m to cover costs.
But one of the companies went bust and the other two failed to pay — prompting OCM to go after Mallah instead. Mallah is subject to a £2m ($2.38m) worldwide freezing order which he is contesting, a London court was told on Friday.
His assets are believed to include property in Sweden and about six apartments in Piraeus, Greece, but their value is contested, said Michael Ryan, counsel for OCM.
Ryan argued that Mallah should detail his assets to ensure that they did not disappear before further court battles over the bulkers. The defendants are appealing the March verdict.
OCM has recovered the Amethyst but the Courage — purchased by OCM for $9m in 2019 — remains in Latakia, Syria, under the control of the former charterer, court documents show.
Lawyers for Mallah said handing over details of his personal assets might leave him facing prosecution by the US or Saudi Arabia, which has also put him on a sanctions list.
But Ryan said there was “no serious risk” of prosecution or further penalties and said the information would be limited to lawyers and experts working on the case.
Justice Knowles ordered Mallah to give details of his assets as it was important for “the courts concerned to police its freezing order”.
Illicit trafficking
Mallah was identified by the US as one of six individuals who were part of a network involved in illicitly trafficking Iranian goods abroad and redirecting the profits to the Houthis and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The network’s financial support “enables the Houthis” deplorable attacks threatening civilians and critical infrastructure in Yemen and Saudi Arabia”, said Andrea Gacki of the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in June last year.
The Houthi rebels were designated a terrorist group by former US president Donald Trump after a string of attacks on ships in the Red Sea in late 2020. His successor, Joe Biden, removed the designation. The IRGC remains subject to US sanctions.
