Financial enablers and gatekeepers · business group (Bashir-era Islamist financier network) · Sudan; subsidiaries in Turkiye, Spain, Cyprus, Austria, Egypt
Al Zawaya Group for Development and Investment (chaired by Abdelbasit Hamza)
Context only
AGrade A: Official recordStrongest record: official record
5 documented ties
Also recorded as: Zawaya Group; Zawaya Group for Development and Investment Co Ltd; Al Rowad Real Estate Development; Larrycom for Investment Ltd; Zawaya Gida Ticaret Ltd Sti (Turkiye); Al Zawaya Group S.L. (Spain); Agrogate Holding
Sanctioned for Hamas financing, which is not about the SAF. The only SAF link is one unverified allegation.
INDIRECT / CONTESTED. Sanctioned for financing Hamas, not for supporting the SAF. Relevance: the Empowerment Removal Committee seized the group's assets in April 2020 (79 properties, est. US$1.2bn, incl. hotel, mall and MTN Sudan shares); after the Oct 2021 coup the committee's decisions were reversed. An opposition politician told The National (Nov 2025) that Burhan released Hamza and restored the assets - an allegation from a UAE state-linked outlet, not independently verified.
Their response
ICIJ: Hamza 'denied any connections to Hamas or al-Qaida' and said he told the Treasury its information 'is not correct'. His Swiss partner in Matz Holdings called the sanctions 'a case of mistaken identity'.
Records
2
Each record carries its own grade. A grade describes the source for that record, not the actor.
AGrade A: Official record
Al Zawaya Group for Development and Investment (chaired by Abdelbasit Hamza)
2020-2021 (seizure and reversal)mixed sourcing
INDIRECT / CONTESTED. Sanctioned for financing Hamas, not for supporting the SAF. Relevance: the Empowerment Removal Committee seized the group's assets in April 2020 (79 properties, est. US$1.2bn, incl. hotel, mall and MTN Sudan shares); after the Oct 2021 coup the committee's decisions were reversed. An opposition politician told The National (Nov 2025) that Burhan released Hamza and restored the assets - an allegation from a UAE state-linked outlet, not independently verified.
Why this grade
A for sanctions and 2020 seizure; D for the claim of SAF protection
Response
No response located in the sources reviewed.
Sanctions
Abdelbasit Hamza: US OFAC SDGT 2023-10-18; also EU, UK, Australia, Canada, Japan. Al Rowad Real Estate Development: OFAC SDGT 2022-05-24. Zawaya Group and Larrycom: US OFAC SDN (terrorism programme), EU (Hamas regime), Australia, Japan, Switzerland (listed Oct 2023 per OpenSanctions first-seen dates).
Foreign affiliates identified: Spain, Türkiye, Cyprus (with Egyptian gold concessions); Austria not identified
2005 - 2024
Spain: Al Zawaya Group for Development and Investment Sociedad Limitada, NIF B72884711, established 15 December 2022, real-estate activity, on the OFAC SDN list as linked to Abdelbasit Hamza (designated with the Sudanese parent on 27 October 2023). Türkiye: Kharon names 'Zawaya Gida Ticaret Limited Sirketi' as managed by Hamza. Cyprus and Egypt: ICIJ and Shomrim report that Hamza holds, through the Zawaya Group, 10% of Matz Holdings, 'a Cyprus firm incorporated in February 2005 that holds lucrative concessions from Egypt to exploit two gold mines' (one is the Hammash mine), after selling most of his shares to another Cypriot company in April 2019. The Cyprus register today shows MATZ HOLDINGS LIMITED (HE 157551) and MATZ DUNGASH LTD (HE 311213) as struck off ('Διαγραμμένη'); a register mirror shows Matz Holdings filings up to 3 September 2024. Austria: Kharon says the group has 'subsidiaries and investments in Austria, Cyprus, Egypt and Sudan' without naming the Austrian or Egyptian entities; none was found. Related Sudanese entities on the SDN list: Agrogate Holding (2022) and Larrycom for Investment Ltd.
Response
ICIJ: Hamza 'denied any connections to Hamas or al-Qaida' and said he told the Treasury its information 'is not correct'. His Swiss partner in Matz Holdings called the sanctions 'a case of mistaken identity'.
Sanctions
US (SDGT): Hamza 18 Oct 2023; Zawaya Group and the Spanish company 27 Oct 2023. The OpenSanctions export also shows the group on EU (Hamas regime), Swiss and Australian lists.
›Research notes
Grades by element: Spanish company A (sanctions list); Cyprus strike-off status A (official register, date of strike-off not obtained); Hamza's 10% B (one investigation based on leaked corporate records, relayed by CNN and Dabanga, and consistent with Kharon's reference to Cypriot corporate records); Turkish company C (Kharon only; one Turkish-registry search found no gazette entry). The ICIJ material derives from leaked corporate-service-provider files; only the published article is used here. The sanctions are for financing Hamas, not for supporting the SAF.
group chairman Abdelbasit Hamza held "a large number of shares at MTN Sudan" among assets seized by the Empowerment Removal Committee (seizure later reversed) · to April 2020
1 more relationship below grade A (corroborated, single-source or unverified). Change “Evidence shown” to see it.
Dated events
1
OFAC designates the Zawaya Group and its Spanish affiliate Al Zawaya Group for Development and Investment S.L. as linked to Abdelbasit Hamza. kharon.com↗
AGrade A: Official record
Geography
Tags come from the recorded jurisdiction and from place names in the records. Coordinates on the map are approximate.
Based in
Sudan, Türkiye, Spain, Cyprus, Austria, Egypt
Also named
United Arab Emirates (1)
Position in the network
Derived by analysing the documented relationships. Nothing in this section is a finding.