Viktor Yanukovych’s assets will be frozen until the final verdict. (file)
Zurich:
Switzerland has launched proceedings to seize more than 130 million Swiss francs ($140.89 million) linked to the convoy of Viktor Yanukovych, the former Ukrainian president who was deposed in 2014. “Illegal origin”, Byrne said in a statement.
Those involved were linked to Yanukovych, who fled Russia in 2014 after mass protests.
Switzerland began confiscating 100 million Swiss francs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, but raised the target amount to 130 million francs after further deliberations.
The assets would be frozen pending a final decision by the Federal Administrative Court, with the government saying that any property seized would be returned to the Ukrainian people under an international agreement.
Switzerland states that confiscation of property only applies in exceptional circumstances, such as when a foreign state has previously attempted to confiscate the property but has been unable to do so.
Yanukovych’s Swiss-based assets were frozen in 2014, and Ukraine sought help in recovering them, although its efforts were made more difficult by the war.
The assets were “the subject of criminal proceedings in Ukraine and mutual assistance procedures initiated by Ukraine,” the government said.
“The object of the proceedings is to determine in the particular circumstances concerned whether the property is of illegal origin and therefore liable to be confiscated.”
Switzerland said the measure was not related to a sanctions list that applies to 1,386 Russian citizens imposed since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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