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Federal attorneys take over Milosevic case

Associates of Slobodan Milosevic are suspected of salting away illicit funds in Swiss banks Keystone

Investigations into funds suspected of belonging to associates of Slobodan Milosevic have been handed over to the federal prosecutor's office.

Bernard Bertossa, the Geneva prosecutor, recently passed on documents concerning local developments in the case. Last year, Belgrade requested the freezing of the accounts belonging to five associates of the former Yugoslav president.

Since the beginning of the year, all cases of major international crime are being handled by the federal authorities, taking the burden away from the cantons.

Milosevic’s associates are accused of corruption and embezzlement. The accounts are in three banks in Zurich, Geneva and Lugano, but the amounts that were frozen have not been released.

Over SFr9 million ($5.28 million) were blocked after an initial request for judicial assistance by the Yugoslav authorities.

Slobodan Milosevic has been in United Nations custody in the Netherlands since June last year. He is due to go on trial in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Croatia and Bosnia.

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