“Lebanon Debate”
The issue is not a real estate company that bought two luxury apartments in Mina Al Hosn, nor 3 people who suddenly entered the high-end real estate market. What the judicial data reveals goes beyond that: employees who work as drivers for Marwan Khair al-Din appear as owners of a company that carried out deals worth more than $10 million, while investigations indicate that the money belongs to officers and businessmen close to the former Syrian regime.
The company is “Real Estate Eternal”, and its registered owners are: Sweden and M. Sweets and what? Science of religion. The three names do not appear in the world of real estate investment, but rather in Khair Al-Din’s immediate professional environment. However, the company purchased two apartments on property No. 1356 in Mina Al-Hosn, in the same building that houses the “Umm Sharif” restaurant, for a total value exceeding $10 million.
The question that arises is not about the apartments, but about the source of the money.
The investigations do not treat the deal as a personal investment carried out by the company’s owners, but rather suspect that the company was used to buy real estate for the benefit of Syrian figures who wanted to transfer their wealth to Lebanon and hide their connection to it behind names and companies that do not lead directly to them.
This is one of the most common mechanisms in money laundering cases. The owner of the money does not appear in the records, but rather a person or company is used to purchase the property and legally own it, while the actual beneficiary remains far from the forefront. In this way, the suspicious money is transformed into a real estate asset that appears legitimate on paper.
But the interface selection in this file cannot be treated as a coincidence. The company’s owners work for Marwan Khair El-Din, which requires tracking their accounts, the sources of funds, the party that issued the purchase instructions, and the bank through which the transfers passed.
The name Khair al-Din does not enter the case out of context. He is the owner of the “Mawarid Bank” and a former minister, and the French judiciary had previously placed him under investigation in a money laundering file linked to the wealth of the former governor of the Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh, and the real estate purchased in Europe.
In 2023, Khairuddin was arrested in France and investigated on suspicions related to the role of banks, intermediaries and documents in concealing the source of funds or presenting them as resulting from legitimate activity. Today, a similar pattern is emerging in Beirut, but with potential beneficiaries from the circle of officers and businessmen of the former Syrian regime.
Also, the relationship between Khair al-Din and Salama did not end with the latter’s departure from the Bank of Lebanon. The “Al-Mawarid Bank” provided the financial guarantee that allowed Salama’s release, in a step that confirmed the continuation of the connection between the two men despite the open judicial files.
As for any attempt to explain the wealth of the company’s owners as the result of trade or private investments, it alone is not sufficient to close the file. What is required is a clear financial path that specifies the source of the money, the account from which it came out, the party that transferred it, and the actual beneficiary of the real estate.
The issue is not a story of drivers becoming businessmen. These are the registered front, but the investigation must reach those who put them in the front, who provided the money, and who secured the banking and legal cover for the deals.
The data paint one path: employees of an influential banker who owns a real estate company, deals exceeding $10 million, and money suspected of being linked to Syrian figures from the former regime.
Therefore, the investigation cannot stop at the names of the owners of “Real Estate Eternal”. The natural path leads to their accounts, transfers, and their relationship with the good of religion, and to determining whether the “Resource Bank” played any role in receiving or passing money or financing purchases.
The question is no longer how three drivers bought two apartments for ten million dollars, but rather who used them to hide his money, and who helped him transform it into real estate in the heart of Beirut.
