Geneva banks may hold Ben Ali assets
Details are emerging about the alleged Swiss assets of toppled Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
A request made to the Swiss government last Monday by a lawyer representing Tunisians living in Switzerland alleges that Ben Ali and his family have assets at branches in Geneva of HSBC Private Bank, Citibank and Credit Suisse.
The NZZ am Sonntag newspaper also reported that eyewitnesses said Ben Ali’s nephew, Sofiane Ben Ali, had come to Geneva at the beginning of last week in an attempt to withdraw money.
The paper said the family of Ben Ali apparently owns property in Geneva and canton Fribourg.
On Friday, two days after the Swiss government announced a freeze on any assets in Switzerland belonging to Ben Ali’s family, a spokesman for the foreign ministry confirmed that some assets had been blocked.
Adrian Sollberger gave no details as to the value or kind of assets, or the identity of the authority or institution which froze them.
The state prosecutor’s office in canton Geneva said on Friday it was checking the validity of several requests it had received to block Ben Ali assets.
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.