Hizballah and Al-Bonyan for Engineering and Contracting Company

Executive Summary

• “Al-Bonyan for Engineering and Contracting Company” is affiliated with Hizballah that regularly receives lucrative contracts financed by international organizations as well as the Lebanese government.

• Al-Bonyan’s CEO and majority shareholder, Hussein Ali Salah al-Moussawi, is himself affiliated with Hizballah and is involved in social and cultural activities that promote grassroots support for the terrorist organization.

• We believe that the company inflates its costs and funnels the excess funds to Hizballah.

Hizballah and Al-Bonyan for Engineering and Contracting Company

“Al-Bonyan for Engineering and Contracting Company” was established in 1989. The Company carries out various projects in the private and public sectors (including roads, infrastructure, water supply and waste water). According to al-Bonyan’s website, over the last decade the worth of the various projects it carried out was that of over 100 million USD. A quick glance at the projects the Company has carried out over the last decade or so, shows that it maintains good relations with governmental bodies such as the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, Baalbeck Municipalities Union and the Council for Development and Reconstruction. According to the Lebanese department of Justice’s Commercial Register, the Company also has an Iraqi branch. However, we have not found any additional information regarding this company.
The company is mainly active in the Baalbek-Hermal region and has strong ties to the town of al-Nabi-Shayth (also spelled Chit) in said region, a town that has deep ties to Hizballah. The Town’s pride and joy is the fact that Hizballah’s former general secretary, Abbas Moussawi, hailed from it.

Key Staff Members:

Name	Position	Comments
Hussein Ali Salah al-Moussawi	CEO, partner and majority shareholder.	One of the Company’s founders, affiliated with Hizballah. Mousawi is also one of the founders of the “Imam Kazim Social and Cultural Association”. He is also a board member of the “Lebanese Contractors Syndicate for Public Works & Buildings.
Ali Hussein Salah al-Moussawi	Manager, Shareholder and partner.	Listed as one of the Company’s founders.
Muhammad Hussein Ali Salah al-Moussawi	Shareholder and partner.	Listed as one of the Company’s founders.
Sanaa Hussein Hazimeh	Partner and Shareholder	Listed as one of the Company’s founders.
Rayan Hussein Saleh al-Moussawi	Shareholder	Listed as one of the Company’s founders.
Shatha Hussein Saleh al-Moussawi	Shareholder	Listed as one of the Company’s founders.
Muhammad al-Moussawi	Assistant Manager	He is also the co-owner of a Company called “City Gas” located on the Airport Road near Beirut.
Hassan Muhammad Marei	Supervisor
Ali Mahmoud al-Moussawi	Attorney	Has an office in al-Nabi Shayth.
Hussein Muhammad Raslan	Listed as the manager of al-Bonyan’s Iraqi branch.	According to the Lebanese “Order of Engineers and Architects”, he lives in Lebanon and works at al-Bonyan’s Beirut branch.

Ties to Hizballah

Al-Bonyan Company is closely associated with Hizballah. While some media reports from Lebanon only mention that the company is affiliated with Hizballah, others state that the Company’s chairman and CEO, Hussein Ali Salah al-Moussawi is personally affiliated with Hizballah. This last statement is also strengthened by the fact that al-Bonyan’s CEO, Hussein Ali Salah al-Moussawi, is a co-founder of a little known religious association has strong ties with Hizballah. The association, founded in 2008, is called “Al-Imam Kazim Social and Cultural Association”, named after the seventh Imam, Musa al-Kazim. While information on the association’s activity is scarce, it closely cooperates with Hizballah’s local branch in al-Nabi Shayth and promotes the organization’s adherence to the Iranian brand of Shiism (see picture below).

In addition, among the names of the association’s founders appears that of Hussein Ali Moussawi (not to be confused with Hussein Ali Saleh Moussawi from al-Bonyan). This most likely refers to a known Hizballah member and politician who also hails from al-Nabi Shayth and is regularly photographed at the Association’s events (see the second picture below) (Hizballah’s official website at: “https://www.moqawama.org/essaydetails.php?eid=14582&cid=199”).

The picture below was taken in an event co-organized with the association in honor of Muhammad’s birthday. In the back a poster sporting the image of Rouhani, Musa al-Sadr and Abbas Moussawi hangs on the wall: [+]

The Picture below is that of an event co-organized by the al-Imam Kazim Association, Hizballah’s local branch in al-Nabi Shayth and the Union of Eastern Baalbek Townships. Hizballah’s Hussein Ali Moussawi is show in the picture below handing out a prize to a young girl: [+]

Ties to Foreign Entities:

Since 2010, al-Bonyan Company has carried out various projects in Lebanon, many of them funded by the Lebanese government but also other funded by foreign organizations such as: Over the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Unicef, Oxfam, The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, International Resources Group (the projects were funded by USAID), World Bank, Embassy of Italy in Lebanon development office, COSV and the Kuwait Fund For Arab Economic Development.

Al-Bonyan for Engineering and Contracting Company – Projects

In addition, according to its website, al-Bonyan uses heavy machinery manufactured by the following foreign companies: Bomag (Germany), Caterpillar (USA), Massey Fergusson (USA), Bobcat (USA), Volvo and Komatsu (Japan).

Conclusions

Al-Bonyan is a Hizballah-affiliates company. The particular mechanism by which it is tied to Hizballah in terms of both finance and organization need to be further ascertained. However, it is quite clear that in terms of ideology, the Company’s CEO, founder and majority shareholder, Hussein Ali Salah al-Moussawi, is perfectly aligned with Hizballah as shown through his involvement in the Imam al-Kazim Association. Indeed, al-Moussawi, via his involvement with the association, helps not only to promote Hizballah’s own brand of Shiism in Lebanon (i.e. adherence to the Iran’s Islamic doctrine), but also helps further Hizballah’s own grassroots support through social and cultural activities (Da’awa).

One possible form by which the relationship between al-Bonyan and Hizballah manifest is via supplying the Company with lucrative tenders in exchange for share in the profits. It seems that thanks to its affiliation with Hizaballah, al-Bonyan, like other companies affiliated with political parties in Lebanon, managed to receive many lucrative contracts funded mostly by the Lebanese government or international organizations (like the UNDP). As one report suggests, As one newspaper suggests, the company deliberately inflates its expenses and charges sums that are higher than the original contract awarded to it. In one instance, al-Bonyan was awarded a contract to operate and maintain water and sewage systems in the Baalbek region and ended up charging a sum that was three times higher than that which was stipulated in the original contract. It may very well be that the excess funds are funneled to Hizballah.