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Haiti making final effort to recover ex-dictator's funds from Swiss banks

Thursday, May 24, 2007

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Haiti is making a last-ditch effort to recover millions of dollars (euros) held in Swiss bank accounts but set to be handed over to former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's family next month.

Haitian Foreign Minister Jean Renald Clerisme said Thursday that a Central Bank official will leave for Switzerland in the next few days in a bid to recover some or all of 7.6 million Swiss francs (US$6.2 million; €4.6 million) frozen in Swiss bank accounts — money allegedly stolen from state coffers during Duvalier's rule.

"We are going to do our best to get the money back," Clerisme told The Associated Press in an interview. "It's important to us because we need the money to development the country."

A Swiss Foreign Ministry official, Paul Seger, said Wednesday that all legal efforts to prevent the money from being released have been exhausted. He said Swiss authorities cannot confiscate the money because it was never proven to be illegally obtained.

The Swiss government's authority over the money expires June 3.

"We are really at the last run to see what we can do," Clerisme said, adding that Swiss officials are helping "so we can have the best outcome."

Haiti's government tried to recover the funds after Duvalier fled the country in 1986, but negotiations ground to a halt amid the chaos that engulfed the country in the years that followed.

"Unfortunately (we) didn't have success in trying to get back the money," Clerisme said. "Now a decision has to be made, and the Central Bank hopefully is going to find a solution before the deadline."

The Swiss government blocked the accounts in 2002 in the hope that the legal process could be restarted. It tried for years to reach an agreement with the family that would spare Switzerland the embarrassment of handing over money that Haiti claims was stolen. Duvalier has denied the allegations.

Clerisme said it was initially envisioned that the money would be divided equally between the Haitian government and Duvalier's family, but did not know whether that arrangement was still on the table.

Duvalier, known as "Baby Doc," was named president for life at age 19 following the death in 1971 of his father, Francois, known as "Papa Doc."

A popular uprising forced him into exile in February 1986. He is believed to live in France and reportedly supports himself with handouts from friends. Tens of thousands were killed during the 29-year Duvalier dynasty and hundreds of millions of dollars stolen.