Swiss Extend Asset Freeze For Duvalier

Switzerland has extended by another year a freeze on assets held by a former Haitian dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, a government spokesman said.

"The federal government has decided to extend the freeze by 12 months," Oswald Sigg told a press conference in Bern yesterday, without elaborating.

The funds, about $6.3 million in total, have been blocked since 1986, the year Mr. Duvalier fled Haiti to France. Under current legislation, the money can't be given to the Haitian government unless there is a realistic chance that Mr. Duvalier stands trial, Swiss newspaper Le Temps reported in May.

Swiss banks, which account for about 14% of the economy, oversee more than $2 trillion for foreigners attracted by the country's political stability and 70-year-old financial secrecy laws.

The government, keen to change the country's image as a haven for dictators' money, has blocked the assets of other former rulers of developing countries.