Swiss freeze Gadaffi, Mubarak, Ben Ali millions
East African 3th May 2011
Switzerland said Monday it had frozen 830 million francs ($960 million/646 million euros) in funds belonging to north African strongmen since the start of this year's popular uprisings.
Most of the blocked funds — 410 million francs — are linked to former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his associates.
Another 360 million francs blocked by Switzerland are believed to belong to Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi's regime and 60 million francs to former Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his associates.
It ordered a freeze on Gadaffi's assets in February after he cracked down on opposition protests, sparking an armed conflict with rebels and international military action against his regime.
Switzerland move is welcome to freeze the assets of these former despots however the question why were they dealing these presidents in the first place? I like them to freeze assets of a president still in power as long as the wealth is stolen. The world is increasingly becoming very small for the world’s despots. Switzerland has been seen by many as a heaven for many despots in the world. The US also had a dispute with Switzerland about money kept by its citizens in Switzerland. Many regimes who think they can get away with stealing public money and keeping it abroad now have lot to think about.