Houthi factions exchange corruption accusations

Houthi factions have exchanged accusations of corruption, and appropriating public funds and war allocations, well-informed sources in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The first Houthi wing is led by Ahmed Hamid, who is the director of the office of the head of the Revolutionary Ruling Council Mahdi al-Mashat, while the other branch is led by the group's cousin and member of the council, Mohammad Ali al-Houthi.

The sources stated that the recent confrontation between the two wings revolves around two Houthi officials who seized about $200 million.

They stated that the UN-sponsored ceasefire contributed to the escalation of the conflict over fund-raising and that Houthi is now clearly expressing his anger at the absolute power that Hamid enjoys.

Sources claim Hamid controls all of Mashat's decisions, while Houthi is seeking to take over the position and name himself the head of the council. However, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi opposes the aspirations of his cousin.

The sources stated that the Oversight and Accountability Agency, run by the leader Mohammad al-Imad, who is affiliated with the Houthi wing, issued many reports about the corruption of Hamid's faction.

One of the agency's periodic review reports showed that Walid al-Wadaei, head of the Houthi Land Transport Authority, seized about $200 million.

The report and the media campaign that accompanied it prompted Mashat to dismiss Wadaei from his post.

The sources indicated that Wadaei was an employee in the Ministry of Justice and that before the coup, he was an employee in the Seiyun Court of Appeal.

Hamid was appointed to the presidency of the Land Transport Regulatory Authority. He dismissed the Minister of Water, who was close to Houthi, on corruption charges.

Houthi responded to that step, exercised his influence, and pushed for the referral of Wadaei to the Anti-Corruption Commission, prompting his dismissal a month ago.

The sources warned that Hamid will use his influence with the Authority to mitigate the case. They expected the confrontation between the two wings to escalate in the coming days.

Another well-informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthi version of the Control and Accounting issued reports revealing corruption cases worth billions of Yemeni riyals.

However, the raging conflict between Hamid and Houthi prevents the reports from being referred to court, as stipulated by Yemeni law, and they are only used in media campaigns to exchange accusations.