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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Banks to Block Liberian President’s Funds |
| 2003-06-23 |
| Swiss authorities ordered a freeze Monday on any bank accounts of Liberian President Charles Taylor, so war crimes prosecutors can search for possible illegal diamond profits linked to West Africa's conflicts. There goes your 401K, Chucky. Taylor has been indicted for war crimes by a U.N.-backed Sierra Leone court for his alleged role in backing rebels who committed atrocities during that country's 1996-2001 civil war. In return for helping the rebels, Taylor received uncut diamonds, the war crimes court told the Swiss Justice Ministry in its request for a freeze on Taylor's assets. "He is claimed to have invested the proceeds from the diamond sales in a number of countries, including Switzerland," the ministry said, announcing its order for Swiss banks to freeze any accounts. The Swiss ministry said there was no immediate indication from banks how much money might be involved. The freeze also applies to accounts of Taylor's relatives, "members of his regime and various business people and companies," it said. The ministry said the court also asked for relevant Swiss bank records. David Crane, the U.S. prosecutor for the court, welcomed the swift Swiss response to the court's request on Thursday. He said the cooperation would help "disentangle Taylor's finances and identify the profits he reaped from his criminal activity... The money may be evidence of the joint criminal enterprise that we allege Taylor, with several other indictees, conducted in Sierra Leone over a period of years." Taylor is widely accused by the United Nations, rights groups and others of enriching himself off illegal gun and diamond trafficking in the region. He also is alleged to be reaping much of the profits from timber sales in Liberia, which has West Africa's last rain forests. Killing people is one thing, but profiting from the destruction of the rain forest is the last straw! The ministry said it had ordered the freezing of the accounts as a precaution and that the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office would take over the case following a formal preliminary examination. The court, set up last year, indicted Taylor on June 4. Taylor faces a rebel insurgency in his own country and recently reached a cease-fire this month with rebels on the brink of overrunning his capital, Monrovia. But he has since renounced provisions in the deal calling for him to step down. Hope you invested those funds in more than one country, Chuck. |
| Posted by:Steve |