30521: (news) Chamberlain: Swiss delay decision on return of "Baby Doc" funds (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     GENEVA, June 1 (Reuters) - Switzerland has delayed by three months a
decision on returning seized funds of former Haitian ruler Jean-Claude
"Baby Doc" Duvalier worth 7.6 million Swiss francs ($6.2 million), the
government said on Friday.
     The funds have been blocked in accounts for over 20 years and
Switzerland has proposed giving much of the money to Haiti for humanitarian
projects, with the rest going back to the former ruler, exiled in France,
and his family.
     "The blocking order has been prolonged for a further three months,"
said government spokesman Oswald Sigg.
     Government officials said the decision was taken after two Haitians
won a court order this week to freeze one of the Duvalier family accounts
in a Geneva bank. The amount of money the account contained was unknown.
     Duvalier's funds were blocked when he was ousted in 1986 and were due
to be released on June 3.
     Over the past 20 years, Switzerland has returned nearly $1.3 billion
in loot stashed by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Peru's former
spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos and Nigeria's leader General Sani Abacha.
     The money was returned to the trio's homelands, but legal and
practical hurdles have prevented a resolution in Haiti, the poorest country
in the Americas.
     Switzerland says the authorities have failed to gather adequate legal
proof that the Duvalier fortune was ill-gotten.
     Similar issues halted proceedings in the case of 8 million Swiss
francs ($6.49 million) belonging to the late Zairean strongman Mobutu Sese
Seko, held since 1997.
     Authorities in the country -- now the Democratic Republic of the Congo
-- have not yet produced evidence the funds were illicit. Swiss law
requires the funds to be released by the end of 2008 if a resolution is not
reached.