BERN, Switzerland – Switzerland on Wednesday immediately froze assets linked to Tunisia's ousted president and about 40 people in his entourage, as well as funds tied to the president of Ivory Coast, who is refusing to step down.
Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey announced the new measures targeting Tunisia's former president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted Friday by a popular revolt, and Ivory Coast incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power to the man who beat him in an election.
"The Federal Council wanted to act very quickly," Calmy-Rey told a news conference in the Swiss capital.
Calmy-Rey said she and the other six members of Switzerland's governing federal council agreed the measures should encourage those two African nations to seek help from Western nations in putting together a possible criminal case against the leaders.
"These measures are aimed at encouraging the two countries to present requests for judicial assistance in a criminal matter," said Calmy-Rey, whose post is a largely ceremonial one. "Switzerland wants to avoid our financial center being used to hide funds illegally."
Switzerland is trying hard to shed its reputation as a favored location for "potentate" money because of its banking secrecy rules, and has set up an investigative unit to help track down hidden funds. The assets will be frozen for three years so the nations can prepare criminal cases.
Ben Ali fled Tunisia on Friday amid massive public protests — and Swiss officials estimate Tunisian government officials have put about $620 million into Swiss banks.
It was not clear how many assets Gbagbo had in Switzerland. He recently sold a $15 million villa in Geneva and he might have had access to millions in assets belonging to the late former Ivory Coast president Felix Houphouet-Boigny. Swiss officials gave no concrete figure.
The United Nations has declared Gbagbo's opponent, Alassane Ouattara, the winner of Ivory Coast's presidential runoff in November. Other African leaders have failed to persuade him to leave the West African nation, and Ouattara is confined to a hotel in Abidjan surrounded by loyal Gbagbo troops.
In Tunisia, a prosecutor opened an investigation Wednesday into the overseas assets of the ousted president and his family. Authorities were trying to restore order as street protests continued against the former regime and its allies.
Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on Friday after 23 years in power, and his long-serving prime minister has set up a fledgling government.
The Swiss government was acting under a constitutional measure because a new law affecting the seizure of assets doesn't go into effect until Feb. 1.
The government's reforms over two decades have made it harder to hide money in Switzerland, and the country has become a world leader in returning such cash.
