Swiss freeze assets
2003-07-23 15:59
Geneva - Acting on a UN request, Switzerland has frozen Sf12m (€1.3m, $1.5m) in the bank accounts of two associates of Liberian President Charles Taylor, the Swiss justice ministry said on Wednesday.
The move followed a request by the UN-backed court investigating war crimes in Sierra Leone last month, which triggered a search of Swiss banks for any assets linked to the Liberian leader.
Taylor is accused by the Special Court for Sierra Leone of providing financial and military support to two rebel groups in Sierra Leone and of committing war crimes during the civil war there, the ministry said in a statement.
The Liberian leader, currently under pressure to step down as his forces battle rebels in the capital Monrovia, is said to have received uncut diamonds in return for his support to the fighters in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
The freeze in unidentified banks in Geneva and Zurich is a temporary pending a decision from a Swiss federal prosecutor, the ministry added.