MADRID (Reuters) - Spain is on trial for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's uncle, Rifaat al-Assad, on charges of money laundering after an investigative judge completed the investigation and the man faced similar charges in France, the Supreme Court said on Friday.
The court added that the prosecutor's office had 10 days to comment on the judge's recommendation to proceed with the case, a procedure that would be considered formal and a date would be set for the start of the trial.
Two years ago, the Supreme Court seized assets worth more than 600 million euros believed to be linked to Rifaat al-Assad.
Assad, a former deputy to his brother Hafez al-Assad and a former military commander widely blamed for crushing an Islamist uprising in the city of Hama in 1982 against Bashar's father, Hafez al-Assad.
Thousands were killed during the crushing of the uprising, but Rifaat overturned the government in 1984 after a power struggle over who would succeed his older brother Hafez, who now lives in exile between France and Britain.
The French judiciary officially announced in 2016 the opening of an investigation into charges raised Rifat al-Assad on suspicion of involvement in cases of tax evasion and money laundering.
Reuters reported that Rifaat al-Assad, who is suspected of illegally collecting his wealth in France and opposed to his nephew's regime, has been under investigation since June 2016 after being questioned by a French financial judge.
The non-governmental organization Sherpa, which specializes in the defense of victims of economic crimes - which filed the lawsuit in 2013 and 2014 for "misappropriating property that raised Assad" - is accused of collecting great wealth thanks to money from corruption and embezzlement in Syria.
In a 2014 report, customs investigators estimated the total value of his real estate and family property - which includes four wives and 10 children in France - at around 90 million euros through companies in Luxembourg.
The list included a palace, a horse farm in the Paris suburb and property in its wealthiest neighborhoods, including hotels, two full buildings and offices in Lyon.
Investigators said he bought the property between 1984, when he arrived in France with his companions, and 1988.
Rifaat al-Assad testified for the first time in 2015, saying that the money came from the then Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz in the 1980s, stressing at the same time that he did not manage these properties himself.
A source close to the investigation said that Rifaat al-Assad submitted only one document relating to a $ 10 million grant in 1984 "which has nothing to do with his current wealth and lavish lifestyle," and can "be explained only by major hidden sources."
Refaat has been living outside Syria for more than three decades due to his disagreement with his brother, the late President Hafez al-Assad, and his opposition to his nephew, President Bashar al-Assad. France and Spain.