(BERNE, SWITZERLAND) Days after the announcement by Switzerland’s Attorney General that it had opened a criminal case against UBS on grounds of the bank’s suspected laundering of USD 90 million on behalf of Musa Aman, the brother of Malaysia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, an official Swiss government statement fuels the debate on the capital flight by Malaysia’s political leaders.
In a written reply to questions submitted last May by the social democrat MP, Carlo Sommaruga, the Swiss Federal Council (government) declares its readiness to freeze illicit assets of politically exposed persons from Malaysia, namely the Chief Ministers of Sarawak and Sabah, Taib Mahmud and Musa Aman. However, this could only happen if Malaysia were to submit legal-assistance requests to Switzerland.
The Swiss government states that the Federal Constitution empowers the Federal Council in extraordinary cases to freeze assets of politically exposed persons in Switzerland. “Such a freeze usually happens with a view to entering into legal-assistance relations with the countries of origin. At the moment, such a situation does not exist in the case of Malaysia.”
The Swiss also confirm that, back in 2011, Switzerland “has provided legal assistance in the case of MUSA Bin Aman et al.” to Hong Kong in a case of “criminal collusion in bribery and taking bribes”. The Federal Council also states that, in the Musa case, “Switzerland has hitherto not been requested to provide legal assistance by Malaysia”. However, the Swiss are clearly indicating their willingness to answer such a request positively: “A possible legal-assistance request by Malaysia would have to be examined by the Federal Office of Justice,” the official statement reads. “Switzerland would provide the requested legal assistance if the legal prerequisites are met and if there are no grounds for exclusion”.
Despite the Swiss government’s refusal to disclose details on specific cases, the carefully worded answer appears to confirm the existence of Taib assets in Switzerland when it refers to “the possibility of freezing the Taib assets by the Federal Council”. Last year, in a formal announcement in the Sarawak state assembly, the Sarawak Chief Minister categorically denied that he held assets in Switzerland or with Swiss banks.
During the past 15 years, Switzerland has returned CHF 1.7 billion Swiss of illicit funds to the countries of origin, “more than any other finance centre of comparable size”. Currently, the Egyptian government is putting pressure on Switzerland for the quick release of CHF 700 million embezzled by the former Egyptian ruler, Hozni Mubarak.
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Sources used for this release: www.parlament.ch
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