THE GUARDIAN: Three-year freeze for Swiss bank assets of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Egypt's Hosni Murbarak and Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
The Swiss government says it has identified potential assets to be frozen worth 830m Swiss francs (nearly $1bn or £600m) belonging to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the ousted presidents of Egypt and Tunisia.
Swiss president and foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, speaking in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, said the assets include 360m Swiss francs that may belong to Gaddafi or his entourage.
She said Switzerland had also linked 410m Swiss francs to the former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, and 60m Swiss francs to Tunisia's deposed autocrat, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Switzerland has ordered banks and other financial institutions to freeze possible assets belonging to the three men and their key supporters to prevent the funds from being secretly withdrawn. The Swiss government has said Tunisia and Egypt have already started legal proceedings to claim the assets.
The government added that neither country has yet provided the necessary evidence of possible criminal wrongdoing involving the money. » | Associated Press in Geneva | Tuesday, April 03, 2011
