The rising influence of Mrs Assad
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 10 April 2023
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
China’s financial sector is reeling from a series of new corruption probes and the FT’s Middle East correspondent, Raya Jalabi, explains how Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad gained so much power and influence.
Mentioned in this podcast:
China’s financial sector rocked by expansion of anti-corruption drive
Syria’s state capture: the rising influence of Mrs Assad
The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson and Marc Filippino. The show’s editor is Jess Smith. Additional help by Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The FT News Briefing is supported by Equinole, the UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.3 | Learn more at equinole.co.uk. |
| 0:09.8 | Good morning from the Financial Times. |
| 0:11.3 | Today is Monday, April 10. |
| 0:13.2 | And this is your FT News Briefing. |
| 0:19.6 | China's anti-corruption unit is rocking the country's financial sector. |
| 0:23.6 | Plus, we're going to take a deep dive into why Syria's first lady has become |
| 0:27.2 | one of the most powerful people in the country. |
| 0:29.6 | She was so ambitious and so brilliant and so clever and so charming |
| 0:33.8 | that she sort of made a choice to stay and to grow her influence. |
| 0:38.5 | We'll hear about the influence Osma Alistad has over the country's economy, finances, |
| 0:42.8 | and foreign aid flows. |
| 0:45.2 | I'm Mark Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:54.9 | Chinese President Xi Jinping thinks the country's financial sector is failing the economy. |
| 1:02.6 | The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has been going after misconduct in finance |
| 1:07.3 | and the Commission warns against quote, |
| 1:09.5 | hedonism and high-end lifestyles. |
| 1:12.8 | Okay, so those are some big words, but the Commission has been backing them up, too. |
| 1:17.4 | Since February, more than a dozen executives have been under investigation or penalized. |
| 1:22.3 | Banks have also made big cuts to executive pay and bonuses. |
| 1:26.4 | Now, a lot of this goes back to President Xi's common prosperity drive that he launched in 2021. |
| 1:31.7 | Since then, the Commission has investigated more than 20 financial institutions. |
... |
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