{"id":415809,"date":"2011-05-02T22:27:52","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T22:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/02\/switzerland-says-illegal-assets-found\/"},"modified":"2011-05-02T22:27:52","modified_gmt":"2011-05-02T22:27:52","slug":"switzerland-says-illegal-assets-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/02\/switzerland-says-illegal-assets-found\/","title":{"rendered":"Switzerland says ‘illegal assets’ found"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Switzerland claims it has found $416 million of potentially illegal assets linked to Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s leader,\u00a0and his\u00a0circle.<\/p>\n

Separately, about\u00a0$473m traced to\u00a0Hosni Mubarak, the deposed Egyptian president,\u00a0and\u00a0$69mn linked to Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the\u00a0ousted Tunisian president,\u00a0have also been identified,\u00a0Lars Knuchel,\u00a0a Swiss\u00a0foreign ministry spokesman, said on Monday.<\/p>\n

“These amounts are frozen in Switzerland following blocking orders by the Swiss government related to potentially illegal assets in Switzerland,” Knuchel said.<\/p>\n

He declined to name the banks in which the accounts or properties are held.<\/p>\n

Mubarak has strenuously denied amassing wealth or stashing away funds in foreign bank accounts.<\/p>\n

Both Tunisia and Egypt – where unrest led to the ousting of their respective leaders – are in touch with Swiss judicial authorities regarding their formal requests for legal assistance to seek return of the funds, according to Knuchel.<\/p>\n

No such discussions are under way with authorities in Libya, where Gaddafi is clinging to power in the face of an uprising and NATO air raids.<\/p>\n

Switzerland, a neutral nation,\u00a0had previously announced that it was freezing any assets linked to the three north African leaders, thereby requiring financial and other institutions to report any suspicious funds.<\/p>\n

Swiss authorities also froze assets belonging to Ivory Coast’s now deposed president, Laurent Gbagbo, in January.<\/p>\n

Switzerland has worked hard in recent years to improve its image as a haven for ill-gotten assets.<\/p>\n

Its cabinet has previously taken blocked funds in accounts held by deposed leaders including Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Nigeria’s late\u00a0Sani Abacha, buying time for foreign prosecutors to build a case for restitution of funds.<\/p>\n

Knuchel said that Switzerland had returned $800m held by Abacha to Nigeria, although it took\u00a0four to\u00a0five years to complete legal proceedings.<\/p>\n

“It was a good example of restitution,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Swiss finance ministry said earlier on Monday it had started proceedings to return assets of the\u00a0former Haitian dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, frozen since 1986, to the Haitian government.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Excerpt from:
\nSwitzerland says ‘illegal assets’ found<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Switzerland claims it has found $416 million of potentially illegal assets linked to Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s leader,\u00a0and his\u00a0circle. 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