Swiss Freeze Qaddafi's Assets
Bloomberg reports:
Switzerland froze the assets of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and his entourage for three years to avoid the possible “misappropriation” of the funds.
The freeze takes effect immediately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The move comes less than two weeks after the government froze funds and assets in Switzerland belonging to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his circle.
“The Cabinet sharply condemns the use of force by Libyan rulers against the population, ” the ministry said in an e- mailed statement from Bern today. “In view of the developments, the Cabinet decided to block any possible assets of Muammar Qaddafi and his circle in Switzerland with immediate effect.”
The four-paragraph text didn’t specify the value of Qaddafi assets that are in Switzerland. The assets of Qaddafi and 26 other people, including his sons, have been frozen. It’s the first time Switzerland has frozen the assets of a leader who is still in power.
The Libyan leader, who has lost control of much of his country’s oil-rich east, appealed to citizens to end violence as his forces stepped up a crackdown on opponents and more than 100 people were reportedly shot dead.
The Swiss government has imposed similar freezes on assets held by former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo. On Feb. 2, the government began a procedure to formally confiscate the Swiss assets of former Haitian ruler Jean-Claude Duvalier that have been frozen since 1986.
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