Syria’s ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad has £55m stashed in personal funds in a bank account in London, according to reports.
The money is part of the £163m that Assad, his family and allies have buried away in UK accounts, banking sources told the I paper.
Human rights groups have now called for the money to be seized and returned to Syria once a new internationally recognised government is in place.
Court documents from 2011 stated that Assad held around £40m in the account, but its value has increased due to interest.
He has not been able to access the funds since being placed under UK sanctions after his brutal repression of anti-government protests before the Syrian Civil War.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the paper: “After more than a decade of conflict in Syria, it is high time that the UK Government takes decisive action to support victims of the Syrian conflict and the Assad regime.
“Since 2011, the Government has reportedly frozen over £163m in assets belonging to Syrian individuals and entities under the Syria sanctions regime … Yet, shamefully, not a single penny of these funds has been directed towards helping Syrian victims.”
It comes after Assad’s in-laws reportedly fled their west London home and the UK.
Fawaz Akhras and his wife Shar Otri left their home in North Acton last week as rebels advanced towards Damascus.
The couple are the parents of Asma al-Assad, who married the recently overthrown Syrian president in 2000 when he was studying in the capital.
In Syria, thousands gathered outside Damascus' historic main mosque on Friday to celebrate the fall of Assad.
The gatherings were a major symbolic moment for the dramatic change of power in Syria, with rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
The former al-Qaeda affiliate is a designated terrorist group under UK law.
But the world is watching the new regime’s actions, after it has spent years trying to soften its image to reassure international governments and minority groups within Syria.
