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Swiss urge quick return of dictator cash

LAUSANNE, Switzerland --Rich countries should speed up procedures to return to Third-World countries the money stolen by deposed dictators, Swiss officials said Tuesday during an international conference on the subject.

Switzerland, which hosted the gathering, said the return of stolen assets was an important issue in the fight against international financial crime.

While previous meetings have been held over how to make repayments "brisk, efficient, amicable and transparent," this week's meeting was the first to include poor countries that have been the victims of disappearing government funds, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The conference was attended by 40 experts from 20 nations and included World Bank and U.N. officials.

"The principle is that illegal money from corrupt rulers, so-called potentates and kleptocrats, needs to be restored to the affected country within the scope of legal possibilities," the ministry said, urging financial institutions and countries to work together.

Switzerland has traditionally been a favorite location for potentate money because of its banking secrecy rules. But reforms over the last two decades have made it harder to hide money in Switzerland, and the country has become a world leader in returning cash.

Of about $730 million in Swiss accounts linked to the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, virtually all has been returned to the African country.

Other prominent cases in which the Swiss have acted include the 2003 decision to return hundreds of millions of dollars stashed in Swiss banks by late dictator Ferdinand Marcos back to the Philippines government. The Swiss funds were the largest amount recovered from the billions of dollars Marcos and his wife allegedly acquired in power.

A year earlier, the government returned to Peru about $77.5 million linked to former Peruvian spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, saying the money came from corrupt arms deals.

Smaller amounts of money linked to former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier and Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko remain blocked by Swiss authorities pending resolution of legal disputes.

In other cases, more than $130 million in alleged bribe money paid by U.S. oil companies to Kazakh officials remains frozen, as does a similar amount tied to Raul Salinas, brother of former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.