Geneva court freezes Baby Doc money
A Geneva court has blocked the release of some of the SFr7.6 million ($6.2 million) banked in Switzerland by former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.
The decision comes four days before a freeze on all the ex-president’s Swiss accounts is due to expire, which would allow the money to be returned to the Duvalier family, said Marc Henzelin, a lawyer for two Haitians.
“We received the notice that the order has been issued, so our request has been accepted,” Henzelin told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The court has not yet issued a public notice of its decision.
Henzelin’s legal firm lodged a request with the cantonal court of Geneva on behalf of two Haitians, a taxi driver and a priest, who were awarded damages against Duvalier worth $750,000 (SFr920,000) and $1 million respectively by a court in the United States in 1988.
The US district court in Miami also ordered $504 million to be paid to the Haitian people under the Alien Tort Claims Act, according to Miami attorney Ira J. Kurzban, who represented the claimants in the case.
“What we want from the [Swiss] government is to extend the blocking order and in parallel lift banking secrecy on all accounts of the Duvalier family in Switzerland to enable victims to file legal claims in Switzerland,” Henzelin told swissinfo on Wednesday.
The latest court decision affects only one account, with the Geneva branch of UBS, held in the name of the “Brouilly Foundation” in the principality of Liechtenstein, Henzelin said. The Brouilly Foundation is owned by a Panama-based company, which in turn is owned by members of the Duvalier family.
Henzelin said it was not known at this point how much money was in the Geneva account, hence his appeal for banking secrecy to be lifted. Duvalier had at least two further accounts in Lausanne and Zurich, though the latter could have been closed, he said.
“I think the [Swiss] government has done a lot compared with others,” Henzelin told swissinfo. “Not many countries have seized assets unilaterally like the Swiss in the Marcos, Mobutu, Abacha and Duvalier cases, but [the Swiss government] has not wanted to touch the sacred cow of banking secrecy.”
Deadline
A senior Swiss foreign ministry official warned last week that the money in Duvalier’s Swiss accounts would have to be released on June 3 because all legal means to retain it had been exhausted.
Paul Seger, head of the Swiss foreign ministry’s international law department, said the government in Haiti tried to recover the funds after Duvalier was ousted in 1986, but the judicial process ground to a halt in the chaos that engulfed the Caribbean country during the years that followed.
A temporary block was imposed by the Swiss government in 2002 to allow more time for claims by Haitian officials and private individuals to be examined in the Swiss courts. This was renewed in 2005 but it is due to expire.
“It was never proved in a court that the money was of criminal origin, and that would have been necessary for us to be able to confiscate it,” said Seger, who was unavailable for comment on Wednesday.
“Unless another solution is found at the last minute, the freeze will be lifted on June 3,” he said, adding that a complex legal dispute between the Duvalier family and its lawyers meant ownership of the money was unlikely to be resolved immediately.
“But it will be beyond our power,” he said. “If we maintained the blockade, the lawyers would go straight to the Swiss federal court, and we have not received a positive response from Haiti to our suggestions that the process of international legal assistance be resumed.”
swissinfo with agencies
The Swiss government tried for years to reach an agreement with the Duvalier family to avoid the embarrassment of handing over money which many in Haiti consider to have been stolen from public funds – allegations Duvalier has always denied.
Switzerland’s highest court ruled in 2006 that an indefinite freeze on privately owned funds was unconstitutional. The case involved SFr8 million deposited in Swiss banks by the former Zairean president, Mobutu Sese Seko, which are due to be unblocked in 2008.
Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as “Baby Doc”, was born in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince in 1951 and was named president for life in 1971 following the death of his father, François “Papa Doc” Duvalier.
A popular uprising forced him into exile in February 1986. He is believed to live in France and reportedly supports himself with handouts from friends. Tens of thousands were killed during the 29-year Duvalier dynasty.
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