12317: Swiss reaffirm freeze on Haiti, Yugoslav assets (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     ZURICH, June 14 (Reuters) - Switzerland underscored on Friday its
tough stance on ill-gotten funds in Swiss bank accounts by acting to ensure
suspect assets from former foreign rulers would remain beyond their reach.
     The cabinet decided on summary measures to make sure 7.5 million Swiss
francs ($4.82 million) in frozen bank assets of Haitian ex-ruler
Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier and his associates would not leave the
country, the Foreign Ministry said.
     The Justice Ministry also said a block on some nine million francs in
bank assets would remain in force pending the outcome of a Yugoslav
investigation into the "unlawful enrichment" of former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic and two other members of his now defunct government.
     It said in a statement that it handed bank documents on the funds to
Yugoslav authorities, but reiterated that none of the cash involved
belonged directly to Milosevic.
     Switzerland has been toughening its stance on dirty funds in an effort
to wipe out its reputation as a safe haven for money launderers.
     Leading bankers and politicians have embarked on roadshows to make it
clear that Switzerland's vaunted banking secrecy rules would be waived if
there were adequate grounds for authorities to believe the assets were
illicit.
     But bankers and politicians have also refused to compromise on the
banking privacy rules when it comes to making information on accounts and
balances available to foreign tax collectors.
     In the Baby Doc case, the cabinet re-affirmed the freeze after it
emerged a provisional block based on a judicial request from Haitian
authorities was about to expire on purely formal grounds rather than due to
a lack of proof of illicit acts.
     Expiry of the request would have meant that the 7.5 million francs in
blocked assets would have had to be returned to their owners and would
likely have left the country.
     The ministry said the decision was taken to safeguard the interests of
Switzerland, adding it was working alongside the Haitian authorities.
     Duvalier and his hangers-on fled the island nation in 1986 after a
15-year rule, reportedly with a total of $130 million in ill-gotten gains
from corruption and embezzlement.
     Duvalier is said to live in exile in France.
     Milosevic is on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for
former Yugoslavia for alleged crimes against humanity and genocide in
Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
He has refused to plead to the charges.