A worldwide search is under way for Hezbollah assets to retrieve $100 million in court-ordered compensation for families of victims and survivors of a suicide bus bombing in Bulgaria that killed six people, The National can reveal.
Lawyers instructed by about 50 people affected by the attack on a tour bus are considering legal action in the US, UK and elsewhere to try to pierce the veil around the funding of the Iran-backed terrorist group.
A Bulgarian court sentenced two men in their absence to life imprisonment in September and ordered them to pay more than 100 million Bulgarian lev ($67m) to relatives of the six dead – five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver – and another 40 people wounded in the 2012 attack.
At this moment, the judgment is against the two terrorists without Hezbollah ... an appeal against the verdict is one of the options.
Lawyers representing most of the victims said the total compensation package could reach $100m for the group's first terrorist attack in Europe since the mid-1980s.
Yaki Rand, the lawyer acting for the families, said he was considering an appeal but believed the court’s initial ruling gave him enough scope to focus on Iran-supported Hezbollah's funds.
“We are looking all over the world for assets in each part of the world, in every country," Mr Rand said.
"I don’t think it’s a good idea to share with everyone, including Hezbollah, our methods and our system to find these assets. As you can imagine, we have techniques on how to find them.
“At this moment, the judgment is against the two terrorists without Hezbollah.
"We know there’s a huge linkage and there’s more evidence. We will see what we can do later. An appeal against the verdict is one of the options."
Mr Rand has already lodged legal claims in the Israeli courts against two Iranian banks and the state of Iran, which the victims allege failed to take steps that could have prevented the attacks.
The lawsuit also targets an Iranian airline that provides logistical support and carries weapons on behalf of Hezbollah, Mr Rand said.
A Bulgarian judge made the order against two surviving members of the bombing team but lawyers for the victims will pursue Hezbollah to try to secure the money.
Experts in Hezbollah funding spoke of the difficulties in trying to seize the group’s assets, which come from sources including personal donations, illegal drugs operations, couriered cash and funding from Iran.
The Bulgaria bus bombing prompted the EU to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organisation but some countries, including France, the home of the suicide bomber, resisted proscribing the group to avoid antagonising its leaders, while seeking to secure political reforms in Lebanon.
Hunt for the attack's masterminds
Critics said the attack highlighted Hezbollah's ability to strike beyond its borders amid US claims that the group has been stockpiling ammonium nitrate, the chemical used in the Bulgarian bombing, in Europe.
French-Lebanese citizen Mohamad El Husseini died when his explosive-filled rucksack blew up at a parked tourist bus at the airport of the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Burgas.
His father was a Hezbollah financier, the court was told.
The two men sentenced to jail in their absence were key organisers for the attack.
Bulgarian prosecutors were unable to establish if El Husseini or his accomplices triggered the fatal explosion.
Witnesses said the bomber, with the Israeli tourists, was trying to put his backpack in the luggage compartment when it exploded.
Meliad Farah, 39, a Lebanese-Australian former car salesman, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 32, a Lebanese-Canadian, were convicted for their roles in the attack and ordered to pay compensation to the victims.
Their current whereabouts are unknown but the men are the subject of Interpol red notices requesting that member states detain them.
Prosecutors said they had "links to the radical wing of the Shiite group Hezbollah".
Bulgarian law does not allow for organisations to be prosecuted but the legal teams are seeking court permission to proceed.
“If an appeal does not succeed, we have already checked with the US and it’s possible to execute the verdict as it is, but we want to improve our legal situation,” Mr Rand said.
Lawyers also issued a claim against an accountancy firm that Mr Rand said “closed its eyes when a bank in Lebanon gave support to Hezbollah and its financial systems”.
Analysts said Hezbollah was traditionally a step ahead of investigators in the US, Israel and the West, with the group quickly adapting to efforts to pinpoint its financial sources.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a televised speech this month, shrugged off the effects of US sanctions, saying the group did not keep money in banks or travel abroad often.
“When we start to counter them, they have always prepared for that,” said David Daoud, a research analyst at the US-based group United Against Nuclear Iran, which tracks Hezbollah.
“In a lot of ways that Hezbollah operates abroad, it creates room for plausible deniability.
“If you catch the person carrying out the illegal act of smuggling drugs, you have to go through multiple steps to get it back to Hezbollah.
"And Hezbollah doesn’t recognise the jurisdiction of US courts.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
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TV (UAE time);
OSN Sports: from 10am
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Scores
Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool
Arsenal 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Burnley 1-0 Brighton
Manchester United 4-1 Fulham
West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace
Saturday fixtures:
Chelsea v Manchester City, 9.30pm (UAE)
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur, 11.45pm (UAE)
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Company%20profile
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Dunbar
Edward St Aubyn
Hogarth
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
- Steve Baker
- Peter Bone
- Ben Bradley
- Andrew Bridgen
- Maria Caulfield
- Simon Clarke
- Philip Davies
- Nadine Dorries
- James Duddridge
- Mark Francois
- Chris Green
- Adam Holloway
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Lee Rowley
- Henry Smith
- Martin Vickers
- John Whittingdale
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
SPAIN SQUAD
Goalkeepers Simon (Athletic Bilbao), De Gea (Manchester United), Sanchez (Brighton)
Defenders Gaya (Valencia), Alba (Barcelona), P Torres (Villarreal), Laporte (Manchester City), Garcia (Manchester City), D Llorente (Leeds), Azpilicueta (Chelsea)
Midfielders Busquets (Barcelona), Rodri (Manchester City), Pedri (Barcelona), Thiago (Liverpool), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Ruiz (Napoli), M Llorente (Atletico Madrid)
Forwards: Olmo (RB Leipzig), Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Morata (Juventus), Moreno (Villarreal), F Torres (Manchester City), Traore (Wolves), Sarabia (PSG)
Countries offering golden visas
UK
Innovator Founder Visa is aimed at those who can demonstrate relevant experience in business and sufficient investment funds to set up and scale up a new business in the UK. It offers permanent residence after three years.
Germany
Investing or establishing a business in Germany offers you a residence permit, which eventually leads to citizenship. The investment must meet an economic need and you have to have lived in Germany for five years to become a citizen.
Italy
The scheme is designed for foreign investors committed to making a significant contribution to the economy. Requires a minimum investment of €250,000 which can rise to €2 million.
Switzerland
Residence Programme offers residence to applicants and their families through economic contributions. The applicant must agree to pay an annual lump sum in tax.
Canada
Start-Up Visa Programme allows foreign entrepreneurs the opportunity to create a business in Canada and apply for permanent residence.
Voices: How A Great Singer Can Change Your Life
Nick Coleman
Jonathan Cape
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
