Disputes among Houthi leaders over the looting of land and real estate have intensified, compelling the head of the Houthi militia's Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, to intervene to end the differences and organize the robberies.
Asharq Al-Awsat learned from shop owners in Sanaa that Houthi militias have recently resorted to imposing monthly dues on them.
The group imposed the dues, ranging between the equivalent of 500 to 1,000 dollars, so that the owners can park near their shops, claiming that these shops do not have special parking lots, sources said.
A number of businessmen expressed their extreme discontent with the behavior of the militias, which forced many of them to close their stores and stop their business activities.
The militias have also doubled the taxes and cleaning fees and forced store owners to pay the so-called Zakat.
Meanwhile, Mashat ordered head of his office Ahmed Hamed, aka Abu Mahfouz, to handle the file of lands that belong to the state and others that belong to endowments, aiming to resolve growing differences among the leaders of the group in Sanaa and organize systematic looting operations, sources close to the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The sources added that Hamed has held a meeting with the leaders of the group, including Minister of Finance Hussein Maqbouli, ministers of endowment, transport, interior and legal affairs and the Secretariat of the capital and Sanaa province in order to distribute land parcels among Houthi members.
The meeting approved, according to the sources, the formation of a committee to establish a mechanism for land ownership, provided that Mashat has the final say on land distribution among Houthi leaders, who have been racing to grant land parcels to their relatives and followers, sparking internal disputes especially on the lands that were allocated before the coup to build housing units for state employees.
Deputies in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the militia had ordered its MPs in the capital to pass a new law giving their leaders and loyalists the right to control government institutions and establish investment projects in the economic sectors under the alleged pretext of promoting partnership between the public and private sectors.
This step was taken by Houthis in an attempt to empower their leaders in all state-owned commercial sectors.
