Damascus, SANA – A public interest litigation has been filed against the defendant Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the First Financial Examining Magistrate in Damascus, the Justice Ministry announced on Thursday.

Erdogan is charged with trespassing on public and private money, damaging public facilities, theft as well as damage and destruction of public money, according to a statement by the Ministry.

The statement said the legal action was filed according to the report of the legal committee formed by the Justice Ministry’s decision no. 4053/L, dated August 10, 2015 and the documents, evidence and witnesses provided by the committee.

The litigation against Erdogan is based on the Public Prosecution Department’s claim no. 2742 dated June 21, 2016, the statement added, noting that the lawsuit was registered under the number 710 for 2016.

According to the Justice Ministry’s statement, the Department of the State’s Issues has filed a personal claim depending on the criminal litigation against Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his personal capacity and in his official capacity as the President of Turkey as well as against the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Turkey in their official capacity.

The claim came against the backdrop of stealing 37 industrial facilities and factories in Aleppo with a total damage value of USD 5.295 billion.

In its first report issued in mid May 2016, the legal committee in charge of preparing the judicial files to prosecute the terrorist organizations that robbed industrial facilities inside the Syrian territory and transported the contents into Turkey held the Turkish government under Erdogan responsible for paying compensation for the damages caused to the facilities’ owners that have been until now estimated at over USD 5.295 billion.

The committee includes representatives of the ministries of Justice and Industry, the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Industry, Aleppo Chamber of Industry and Aleppo Chamber of Commerce.

H. Said