Switzerland has blocked nearly one billion Swiss francs ($1.1 billion, 800 million euros) in assets linked to former autocratic Middle Eastern leaders since the Arab Spring, the Swiss foreign ministry said Tuesday.
The Swiss government has held funds linked to ousted Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali since he left the country in January 2011, and those of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak after his departure from power the same year, said Valentin Zellweger, the head of the foreign ministry's international law department.
Switzerland had blocked some 700 million Swiss francs from Egypt and 60 million from Tunisia, and was currently working with the new administrations in those countries to find a way to return the funds to the Egyptian and Tunisian people, Zellweger told reporters in Geneva. Following separate United Nations Security Council resolutions, Switzerland had also blocked 100 million Swiss francs from Libya and another 100 million from Syria, Zellweger said.