The Yemeni Houthis have sacked the director of the Cooperative and Agricultural Credit Bank (CACC) amid accusations from the internationally recognised government that the group is trying to control state finances and institutions to expand its influence.

Yemen’s Saba news agency said the president of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council issued a “decree” to appoint Ibrahim Ahmed Ahmed Al-Houthi as chairman of the Board of Directors of CACC.

The Minister of Information of the internationally recognised government, Muammar Al-Iryani described the Houthis’ decision as “illegal” and part of a scheme to overrun banks and state institutions.

Al-Iryani said the Houthi leader, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi’s appointment of his relatives at the heads of administrative state institutions in “areas under the militia’s control” proves that they are “just thieves who came to loot the Yemeni people and collect the largest amount of money at the expense of the suffering, aches and blood of Yemenis.”

In late 2017, the Houthis seized documents and archives of the Cooperative and Agricultural Cooperative Credit Bank and moved them to an unknown location.