Yemeni government warns of Houthi militias' attempts to seize Kamran Industrial and Investment Company

The Yemeni government warned, on Thursday, of the efforts of the terrorist Houthi militia affiliated with Iran to control the assets and balances of the Kamran Company for Industry and Investment, through the illegal convening of the so-called "General Assembly."

Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Muammar Al-Eryani, said in a press statement that the step taken by the Houthi militia aims to plunder the company's revenues, which is one of the most important sources of funding for the state's public treasury, and harness them to carry out illegal commercial activities and money laundering, which exposes the company and its famous trademark to international economic sanctions, as it is a classified terrorist group.

He pointed out that the meeting held on September 30, 2024, and all the procedures issued from it, were illegal, as it lacked the legal quorum, and was held unilaterally, in the absence of the majority of the capital, in violation of the law and the company’s articles of association and its amendments in 2014, and without an invitation from the Board of Directors. At the forefront of these procedures was the promotion of a number of Houthi militia leaders to the Board of Directors, from outside the list of shareholders, with the aim of hijacking the company’s decision.

He explained that since the coup, the government has been keen to continue the work and activity of the first national company in the manufacture and production of cigarettes, which was established in 1963, according to smooth work mechanisms included in the minutes of the ministerial committees to maintain the company and its commercial reputation at the local, regional and international levels, in order to ensure that the revenue-generating national companies are neutralized from the conflicts within the national economic system and in a manner that serves the public interest.

He pointed out that the Houthi militia, especially after the reopening of the port of Hodeidah, deliberately exploited the company's activity and commercial reputation that was built over 61 years of leadership and building bridges of trust with banks and financial and banking institutions, and deviated from the company's activities, and the ambiguity in importing raw materials, and preventing the export of products to the company's branches in the liberated governorates, with the aim of drying up any revenues for the legitimate government, and opening the way for the tycoons of smuggling and imitating "counterfeit cigarettes."

Al-Eryani said that the Houthi militia sought to confiscate the company’s assets and real estate, and to change shareholders through pressure and intimidation, with the aim of Houthi-izing the company and seizing it, or overthrowing it in favor of companies that were established and a special law was made to support them and no one else to establish factories in the future, and they are now working in smuggling cigarettes of the “Shamlan, Manchester, Modern, and other” brands and counterfeiting trademarks and products of local national companies.

He stressed that these practices confirm the Houthi terrorist militia's continued implementation of its plan to destroy the public and private sectors, and to eliminate national companies and major commercial houses in the areas under its control by force, in favor of companies and investors affiliated with it, with the aim of completely controlling the commercial sector and controlling the national economy, without regard to the difficult economic and humanitarian conditions in Yemen.

Al-Eryani called on the international community and the United Nations not to stand idly by while the Houthi militia systematically targets commercial companies and national capital that have endured and continued their commercial activities despite the difficult circumstances, which threatens to collapse the economic situation and exacerbate human suffering, and to immediately begin classifying it as a "global terrorist organization", prosecute and hold accountable its leaders and ensure that they do not escape punishment.