Thirty-Four Referred for Investigation
The finance minister ordered 34 employees suspended from their posts and referred for investigation on 6 August 2026, in the latest move of a widening anti-corruption campaign inside Syria's public financial institutions.
The decision removes the officials from duty while judicial and administrative inquiries proceed. The stated aim is to strengthen integrity and improve institutional performance across the ministry and the bodies it oversees.
Where the Dismissals Landed
Of the 34, 24 work in the finance directorates of Damascus, Hama and Aleppo, the three provinces named in the decision. The remaining 10 are staff of the state-run Real Estate Bank, one of the country's main public lenders.
Concentrating the action on tax directorates and a major state bank points the campaign at the places where public money is collected and held.
A Two-Month Pattern
The August order follows a comparable decision in June 2026, when the ministry suspended 36 employees. That earlier group was made up of 22 from finance directorates in Damascus and its countryside, nine from the Real Estate Bank and five from the Official Gazette.
Taken together, the two rounds have removed about 70 people from finance-sector posts in roughly two months, with the Real Estate Bank featuring in both.
The Ministry's Stated Line
The measures were framed as part of a sustained drive rather than a one-off purge, with a pledge to "continue without hesitation in eradicating corruption and purging our institutions."
The dismissals were tied to broader goals of restoring confidence in public financial management and tightening oversight of revenue and spending.
Why the Step Matters
Rebuilding trust in the tax authorities and state banks sits at the center of the effort to bring public finances under firmer control and improve how financial institutions are seen.
Repeated personnel actions of this scale within a short window rank among the more concrete steps taken so far to put that intent into practice.