Mazen Al-Tarazi
Syrian businessperson From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mazen Samir Al-Tarazi (Arabic: مازن الترزي; born 1962), also known as Mazen Al Tarazi and Mazin Al Tarazi, is a Syrian-Canadian businessman. He has significant activities in the media sector in Kuwait. He is the founder and CEO of Marketing Group for Advertising, Publishing and Distribution and the Dar al-Hadaf Newspaper Company, which he founded with Kuwaiti businessman Ahmed Al-Jarallah. Until December 2022, he was a board member of Dar Al Seyassah Company for Printing, Publishing and Distribution WLL in Kuwait, the publisher of the Arab Times and Al-Seyassah newspapers. He is sanctioned by the United Kingdom and EU for being a “leading business person” during the time of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.[1][2]
Background
Al-Tarazi was born in Damascus in 1962, and he started his career in Kuwait as a printing press worker at Al Anba and Al Rai newspapers, then as a manager at Al Waseet classified advertising paper. He then became a manager at Al-Seyassah. He later partnered with the owner of Al-Seyassah, Kuwaiti businessman Ahmed Al-Jarallah, to launch weekly magazine Al-Hadaf operating under Dar al-Hadaf Newspaper Company.[3][4][5] He was named in the Panama Papers as the sole owner of First Kingston Investments Ltd., registered in the British Virgin Islands.[6]
Al-Tarazi signed contracts with Damascus Governorate and Damascus Cham Private Joint Stock Company in reconstructing a new city, Marota City, in the Basateen al-Razi area in the Mezzeh district of Damascus, in two projects. The first is a $250m, 120,000 sqm shopping mall and six other buildings, and the second are give properties worth $70m. Al Tarazi ultimately reneged on these contracts.[7][8]
Controversies
Summarize
Perspective
Sanctions
In 2019, Al-Tarazi was sanctioned by the European Union.[9] In 2020, he was sanctioned by the United Kingdom "benefitting from and/or supporting the Syrian regime."[10] In 2021, the EU General Court dismissed an application by Mazen Al Tarazi to annul his inclusion in the Syria sanctions list.[1][11]
Arrest in Kuwait
ARAB TIMES - KUWAIT @arabtimeskuwaitSeverance of Relationship with Mazen Al Tarazi, a #Syrian national who also holds #Canadian citizenship
6 December 2022[12]
In March 2019, Kuwaiti authorities arrested Al-Tarazi and four employees of Al-Hadaf Magazine after the magazine's headquarters were raided, reportedly on charges of money laundering and publishing without a license.[13] In March 2019, the Arab Times, owned by Al-Tarazi's business partner, Ahmed Al-Jarallah, published an article describing the allegations of money laundering against of Al-Tarazi as "concocted lies, as several bloggers have raised unfounded allegations in the past against notable personalities in the country, which clearly damaged their reputations and defamed their personalities".[14] In December 2022, Al-Jarallah released a statement in his newspaper, the Arab Times announcing his "severance of any relationship with the so-called Mazen Al Tarazi".[15]
References
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