The government has presented a draft bill to amend a law on the restitution of assets of illicit origin in a bid to return funds to the authorities in Haiti.
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said the legal amendments – due to be submitted for consultation before being discussed in parliament – were complex.
“Switzerland would be a pioneer country in this field if the bill is passed,” she told journalists following Wednesday’s regular cabinet meeting.
The bill aims to simplify the freezing and confiscation of illicit funds deposited by dictators in Swiss banks as well as their return to the rightful authorities of the country.
She said Switzerland’s experience, notably in the cases of the former Haitian ruler Jean-Claude Duvalier and Mobutu Sese Seko of the Democratic Republic of Congo, had revealed limitations in the system because the states concerned were unable to conduct the required criminal proceedings.
Earlier this month the Swiss government blocked the restitution of assets worth SFr7 million ($6.5 million) to the Duvalier family in the wake of a decision by the Federal Court.
Calmy-Rey also pointed out that over the past 15 years Switzerland has returned more than SFr1.7 billion to countries which have been plundered by so-called “politically exposed persons”, including the former rulers of Nigeria, the Philippines and an ex-senior Peruvian politician.
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Lawyer warns against returning Mobutu assets
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Mark Pieth, a professor of criminology at Basel University, has lodged a “citizen’s appeal” with the Federal Criminal Court and written to the Swiss government to try to extend a freezing order on Mobutu’s assets, worth SFr7.7 million ($6.68 million). The assets have been frozen in Swiss bank accounts since 1997 and are due to…
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The Federal Justice Office announced on Thursday that the exiled Duvalier and his entourage could not prove how they had obtained the funds, totalling about SFr7 million ($6 million). “The Duvalier clan acted in the same way as a criminal organisation,” the Justice Office said. “The statements submitted by the account holders failed to provide…
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The latest move in the long-running saga immediately followed a Federal Court decision to reverse a lower court’s ruling that a large share of the $5.7 million (SFr6 million) in Swiss accounts should have gone to charities working in Haiti. Duvalier’s family and supporters have petitioned to reclaim the money. “In view of the criminal…
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Thomas Kern has documented the daily struggle of Haitians since 1997. These pictures show the difficulties ordinary people face as well as their relationship with voodoo religion. Thomas Kern works as a picture editor for swissinfo.ch and as a freelance photgrapher.
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