Financiers consider return of illicit funds
Representatives of the world's major financial centres are meeting in Lausanne to discuss ways of handing back assets looted by crooked leaders.
The two-day meeting, which kicks off on Wednesday, will focus on the return of illicit funds deposited in banks and other financial institutions to the countries from which they were stolen.
Swiss officials, who organised the meeting, want to avoid repatriating the illegal funds in a way that could reward corrupt groups in the country where the funds originated.
The illicit funds issue was spotlighted after deposits of about $700 million were discovered in Swiss bank accounts of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. The funds apparently were part of $3 billion taken illegally from Nigeria.
Setting a precedent
The Swiss representatives are trying to develop a method for the return of funds that can be used as a precedent for future cases involving illicit funds.
Currently, there is no international law governing the repatriation of such funds.
“We want to discover the best instruments for restitution, and we want to be careful that we identify the extent to which our partners are willing to go along in this process,” said Nicolas Michel of the Swiss Foreign Ministry.
The meeting participants – from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Luxembourg, the United States and Switzerland – are not interested in setting up another anti-financial crime body, Michel said.
Flow of money
Last January, financial representatives met in Lausanne to exchange ideas on preventing corrupt rulers from depositing illicit money in financial centres. They also discussed possible ways to trace and seize such accounts.
Attempts made by the Swiss several years ago to stop the flow of illicit funds into the country’s banks failed.
The Foreign Ministry asked for international cooperation in fighting financial crime following a highly publicised case involving funds deposited by the late dictator of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, in the 1980s.
The more recent Abacha case led to a re-evaluation of the way Switzerland deals with illicit funds, the ministry said.
“We have to find a solution which is politically acceptable, efficient and in the interest of the population of the country,” said Jacques de Watteville of the Foreign Ministry.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.