The Houthis are imposing on Al-Kuraimi to include partners with him in the bank
English - Thursday 08 October 2020 الساعة 02:00 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
A banking source in the capital, Sanaa, revealed to "NewsYemen" that the Houthi militia is exerting great pressure on the Al-Kuraimi Islamic Microfinance Bank to include partners with it in the bank, which Al-Kuraimi rejects.
The source, who requested anonymity, said that Al-Kuraimi owned his relatives shares in the bank’s capital, in compliance with the Houthi’s conditions, stressing that al-Kuraimi’s procedures were rejected by the Houthis, and they closed the bank’s headquarters in Sana’a and Hodeidah at the end of last September.
The Yemeni banking sector, which consists of 17 banks, whose centers are in Sana'a - except for the National Bank in Aden - suffers from extortion, the freezing of its financial reserves in the central bank, lack of liquidity, defaulting of its debts, weak depositors' confidence, and the division of the central bank between Sana'a and Aden.
In addition to the continuation of commercial and Islamic bank loans to the Houthi militia, 24 billion riyals are paid annually to profit tax, and a share of profits reaches 30%, and exchange companies pay fees for renewing licenses, royalties, taxes, and war effort.
Banking sources confirm that the Houthi militia repeatedly pressured banks through their supervisors to hand over the account system codes and statements of clients' names and their balances, which forced most of them to pay large sums to the Houthis in exchange for abandoning their request.
Banking sources indicate that the Houthi militia rejects the final accounts of the banks, and randomly sets high profit, then asks the banks to pay 30% of the total number they specify, and arrests those who refuse to pay, and prevents the bank from practicing its activities.
An official source at the Saba Islamic Bank revealed earlier that the bank had paid the Houthi militia, other than taxes, more than 35 billion riyals, in cash payments, over the past five years, at a rate of 7 billion riyals annually, stressing that the bank had no choice but to pay or closure.
The Houthi militia, with its illegal practices, has been able to tear apart the private sector that has been rooted in Yemen for decades to create a parasitic private sector that follows it, and in light of its control over state institutions, its companies have enabled control of the local market.
The Houthi militia has a monopoly on the fuel trade, the telecommunications sector, and a large part of the pharmaceutical market, and is now heading to the banking sector
