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Swiss to freeze Ben Ali funds
[Al Jazeera] The Swiss government has ordered a freeze on all funds held by Tunisia's ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Micheline Calmy-Rey, the country's foreign minister has announced.At the same time, prosecutors in Tunisia opened an inquiry into the assets of Ben Ali and his extended family, the official TAP news agency reported. The Tunisian inquiry will reportedly look into possible illegal financial transactions, foreign bank accounts and real estate held by Ben Ali, his wife Leila Trabelsi and other relatives. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the last political prisoner has been released from jail, a move promised by the so-called "government of national unity." Wednesday's move by the Swiss government was announced at a cabinet meeting following domestic political pressure as well as legal action taken by Tunisian exiles in Switzerland this week. "The government decided at its meeting today to freeze any funds in Switzerland of the ex-Tunisian president and his entourage with immediate effect," Calmy-Reys, who currently also holds the rotating Swiss presidency, said. "Switzerland wants to avoid our financial centre being used to hide funds illegally taken from the populations concerned," she added. Calmy-Reys said the move was aimed at both preventing any assets that might be in Switzerland from being withdrawn, and ensuring that Tunisia's new authorities would be able to retrieve illicitly taken public assets. Posted by: Fred 2011-01-20 |
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