In this context, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has blocked €1.3 billion (CHF1.25 billion) on a provisional basis, it said, referring to information in the daily Le Temps.
As SECO indicated on its regularly updated website on Wednesday, the value of assets frozen in Switzerland as a result of sanctions against Russia amounted to CHF7.1 billion as of August 13. Added to this are 17 properties, sports and luxury cars, works of art, furniture and instruments belonging to individuals, companies or entities affected by the sanctions.
When the particular importance of the offence justifies it, SECO can request the support of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG). In the present case, SECO asked the OAG to open an investigation procedure after extensive preliminary research, the latter told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-ATS, referring to information from Le Temps.
Following an in-depth examination, the OAG considered that the facts reported to it fell within its jurisdiction and opened the criminal proceedings in question in November 2023, it added. The investigation is currently being conducted against four individuals and an unknown person on suspicion of violating the law on embargoes, in connection with the situation in Ukraine, and on suspicion of money laundering, it said.
Translated from French by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Pope was a person full of respect: Swiss president
This content was published on
Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter, who is attending the funeral of Pope Francis, says the pontiff was always full of respect.
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
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.