May 3m 2011
Swiss identify nearly $1 billion assets to freeze
GENEVA — The Swiss government says it has identified potential assets to be frozen worth 830 million Swiss francs ($957 million) belonging to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi and the ousted presidents of Egypt and Tunisia.
Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, speaking at a diplomatic meeting in the Tunisian capital Tunis, said Monday that the assets include 360 million Swiss francs ($415 million) that may belong to Gadhafi or his entourage.
She said Switzerland had also linked some 410 million francs ($473 million) to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and 60 million francs ($69 million) to Tunisia’s deposed autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Switzerland has ordered banks and other financial institutions to freeze possible assets belonging to the three men and their key supporters to prevent the funds from being secretly withdrawn. The Swiss government has said that Tunisia and Egypt have already started legal proceedings to claim the assets.
The government added that neither country has yet provided the necessary evidence of possible criminal wrongdoing involving the money.
Switzerland froze assets linked to Ben Ali and 40 people in his entourage on Jan. 19, less than a week after he was toppled by popular revolt. On Feb. 11, Switzerland froze assets of Mubarak and his associates.
The Swiss government sent diplomatic cables to Tunisia and Egypt in late March explaining that they must submit evidence so authorities can decide if the offenses are punishable in Switzerland.
In both cases, the money will remain locked away for three years while the two countries satisfy the Swiss legal requirements.
The Swiss also have asked a court to authorize the seizure of millions of dollars frozen in accounts belonging to former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.
The Finance Department said it has initiated forfeiture proceedings before the Federal Administrative Court, a quarter-century after the funds were first frozen in Switzerland. That was shortly after Duvalier’s ouster from power in 1986.
The government recently drew up a special law to prevent Duvalier or his family from reclaiming the estimated 5.8 million Swiss francs ($6.7 million).
The Finance Department said Monday that Switzerland will give the money to Haiti for use in aid projects if the court action is successful.
Earlier this year the country also froze funds tied to Laurent Gbabgo, the former president of Ivory Coast who refused to cede power and finally was captured.
Switzerland’s banking, like its watches, knives and chocolate, is keen to maintain its reputation for quality. To that end, it also is trying hard to shed its reputation as a favored location for dictators’ money because of its banking secrecy rules, and has set up an investigative unit to help track down hidden funds.
The three-year freeze on assets is the norm, which Calmy-Rey and the other six members of Switzerland’s governing federal council have said is meant to give nations time to put together a possible criminal case against former leaders.
She says the nation is willing to help make those cases because it now wants to avoid being used to hide funds illegally. A new law affecting the seizure of assets went into effect Feb. 1 that makes it easier for the Swiss government to freeze and seize the money. In recent years, Switzerland has become a world leader in returning such cash.
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