The hunt for assets connected to Belarus’ authoritarian’s president is on, amid continuing protests against him.
Balz Bruppacher, guest author
Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya wants Swiss authorities to investigate whether Alexander Lukaschenko has hidden assets in Switzerland, she told Swiss daily «Le Temps» (behind paywall, in French) on Monday. Currently living in exile in Lithuania, Tichanowskaja is due to visit Bern next month.
Her appeal is welcome with Swiss authorities, who have already imposed sanctions on Lukashenko as well as 14 of his associates, keeping pace with similar measures from the European Union.
Long-Standing Measures
The most recent Swiss government order, dated December 11, froze money and other assets attributable to Lukashenko or his entourage. The government agency responsible for collecting data on any assets in Switzerland connected to the Belarus leader, SECO, generally doesn’t disclose specifics on frozen assets.
«We can disclose that SECO currently doesn’t have any notice of blocked money or other assets,» a spokesman for the agency told finews.com. However, sanctions against Belarus go back 15 years, when Switzerland matched EU measures amid a controversial presidential election.
Belarus Assets In Swiss Accounts
Switzerland cited widespread violence against protesters in Belarus in widening the sanctions in December, saying the 15 people listed were responsible for arbitrary arrests and brutality and demonstrators.
How much money from Belarus sits in Switzerland? Switzerland’s central bank lists nearly 463 million Swiss francs ($516 million) in liabilities as of 2019, the most recent data. This is less than half of the sum in 2018, which was 937.4 million francs. The data doesn’t disclose any specifics on assets held in custody accounts at banks, which aren’t broken down by country.
