Swiss cantons have so far reported ten properties belonging to Russian oligarchs which are now ”frozen” in line with sanctions measures, a government spokesman said on Sunday.
Fabian Maienfisch, spokesman for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), was confirming a report in the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper, but did not wish to give further details. These properties may no longer be sold or rented.
According to the NZZ am Sonntag, the ten houses or apartments are in four different cantons, including Bern and Geneva. It writes that one is a holiday home in the Bernese Oberland belonging to oligarch Piotr Awen, former head of Russia’s largest commercial bank, Alfa-Bank.
Total assets seized are worth CHF5.75 billion ($6.2 billion), writes the paper, citing SECO. It is not clear how much of this is properties. Money laundering expert Daniel Thelesklaf tells the paper he fears a lot of oligarch assets may never be found. He says that after the first sanctions on Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea, these oligarchs have had years to prepare for new ones and hide their money.
Also in connection with the sanctions, SonntagsBlick reports that Swiss customs officials have been conducting inspections of freeports for assets of sanctioned oligarchs such as artworks. However, they have only found one case, the paper writes.
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