“$900-billion is secreted each year from underdeveloped economies, with an
estimated $11.5 trillion currently stashed in havens. More than one quarter
of these hubs belong to the UK, while Switzerland washes one-third of global
capital flight”.Source globalpolicy.org, 2006.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/172/30134.html
The Africa Union says 25 percent of GDP of African States is lost to
Over the last couple of years a number of Swiss banks have been accused of
The banks in Switzerland that aided, abetted and provided shelter for
Again the Arab daily newspapers Asharq Al-Awsat and Al-Hayat reported that
Also after 18 years of legal wrangling Switzerland agreed to let the people
Furthermore, between August 2001 and 2004, Peru recovered nearly over $180
Additionally, when Mobutu died in 1997 Swiss newspapers reported that the
In recent years Switzerland has repatriated some of the money her banks
It is believed that most of the $2 billion stolen by ex- President Arap
Switzerland has mounted fierce campaign to portray herself as a clean,
The fact is that Switzerland has not been able to convince anyone that they
During the trial of the disgraced Elf executives, they claimed that they
Where Swiss leaders do not get it is that their past and present actions
In 2007 Swiss federal prosecutors abandoned an investigation into suspected
There are well known experts who still believe Switzerland deserves her
The sad thing about this parasitic behaviour is that it is supported by
But Switzerland has had it both ways with her hypocrisy and double
The cost of Switzerland's collusion and connivance with the corrupt entities
As monies meant for development are stolen and stashed in Swiss Banks, the
It is therefore time for Switzerland to act as a responsible member of the
Finally, it is time for Switzerland to turn words of fighting corruption
The Author is a political activist and Anti-Corruption Campaigner. He blogs
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----
corruption every year amounting to more than $150-billion a year. Source the
bbc Spt.2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2265387.stm
The negative impact of that has been increasing the cost of goods by as much
as 20%, deterring investment, holding back development and preventing the
people from escaping poverty. The fact as pointed out by GFI is that the
money that denies poor countries the chance to escape poverty sits in Swiss
Banks.
accepting money from dictators like Sani Abacha, Mobutu, Lansana Conte,
Gnassingbe Eyadema, Arap Moi, Omar Bongo, Obiang Nguema, Blaise Campore,
Denis Sassou Nguesso, Eduardo dos Santos, Sadam Hussein, Ferdinand Marcos,
Baby Doc Duvalier, Hosni Mubarak, Yoweri Museveni, Augusto Pinochet, Gaddafi
and the evil genius Ibrahim Babangida without due diligence and without
questioning the source of their wealth. For example Swiss economy was the
main recipient and beneficiary of Sani Abacha´s $5-billion embezzlement of
Nigeria´s oil money. When it was discovered that Abacha used the crook banks
in this country to steal the money, Switzerland wanted to distance herself
from the criminal enterprise run by her banks and benefited by her economy
and her citizens. But in the end she had no choice but to repatriate over
$700-million to the government of Nigeria after five years of foot dragging.
Abacha´s stolen money were UBS AG, Zurich; UBS AG, Geneva; Union Bancaire
Privee, Geneva; Credit Suisse, Zurich ; Bank Len, Zurich; Banque Barring
Brothers, Geneva; Goldman Sachs and Company, Zurich; Gothard Bank, Geneva;
Citibank Zurich; Banque Nationale De Paris, Basle; FIBI Bank (Schweiz) A. G.
Zurich. Source: Tell Magazine, October 7, 2002. Only heaven knows how much
of Abacha´s loot still remain in these countries.
former Prime Minister Dr. Iyad Allawi told them in interviews that Saddam
Hussein admitted he invested stolen Iraqi money which the Iraqi Governing
Council estimated at $40 billion in Switzerland, Japan and Germany, among
others, under fictitious company names. Directors of those shell companies
would deposit 5% in company bank accounts, and the money was effectively
laundered. Swiss and French lawyers did the paperwork. Source: Daily News.
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/hosadw.htm
One million Iraqis died during the UN oil for food programme while money
that could have saved them was accepted by Swiss Banks and their corrupt
counterparts in Japan and Germany.
of Philippines receive the $684m. looted by Ferdinand Marcos and kept by her
crook banks.Source: Global Corruption Report, 2007. Switzerland kept close
to $700m while children were starving to death and hospitals were closing
down for lack of medicines and electricity.
million stolen by her former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos from several
jurisdictions including Switzerland, Cayman Islands and the United States.
In May 2007, an agreement between the governments of the United States,
Switzerland and Kazakhstan allowed for the repatriation of $84 million
denied the people for many years. Again it took Switzerland 12 years to
return $74m of the $110m stolen by Raul Salinas to the government of Mexico.
Switzerland still has in her possession the money looted by the dictator
´Baby Doc´ Duvalier 24 years after he was chased away by the poor people of
Haiti. Source:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bribe/2009/05/haiti-the-long-road-to-recovery.html
country may be home to at least $5-billion of Mobutu´s stolen assets. The
report was also confirmed by CNN World News in September, 1997. The whole
world was shocked when Swiss authorities announced that Mobutu´s stolen
assets in the country totalled something just under $8m and this was after
they had sold his villa for $2-million. The shock sent a chill down the
spine of DR. Congo´s president. He has still not recovered and has refused
to show any interest in pursuing the money.
criminally accepted at the expense of poor nations and Swiss political
leadership is using it to score cheap political point instead of being
ashamed of it. Mali has received just $2.5 million out of the estimated
$5-billion deposited in that country by Mali´s corrupt political leaders
among them former dictator Moussa Traore. Argentina has also received $4.5
million from Switzerland in a bribery case. Source:
http://www.odiousdebts.org
Moi's family is stashed in Switzerland and her sister countries in the
Alpine region. In 2003, investigation by the international risk consultancy
firm Kroll on behalf of government of Kenya into allegations of corruption
on the part of Arap Moi's government revealed a trail of corrupt practices
by Arap Moi, his children, members of his government and their associates
with most of their 24 years of ill-gotten wealth hiding in Switzerland,
Britain, Luxembourg and the Caribbean. Credit Suisse - Zurich and Citibank-
Geneva came up several times as the banks where where most of the loots are
being kept. "During the beginning of December 2003, Philip Moi made his move
through Zara. She left the country for Italy, from where she visited
Leichtenstein and Lugano located inside the Swiss canton of Tieino. It is
believed that Tieino, though a remote area, consists of over 100 banks.
Zara/Rosanna Moi, Philips Italian wife, estimates Philip's worth to be
USD750 million." Source: Kroll Report, 2003.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/KTM_report#Target_3
responsible country. "A senior Swiss diplomat says Switzerland no longer
deserve its reputation as a save haven for the ill-gotten gains of corrupt
dictators. Speaking in Geneva Ambassador Paul Seger said the government had
returned $1.6 billion (SFr1.9 billion) of stolen funds in recent years" but
also admitted that "incidents such as the Marcos, Abacha or Montesinos
affairs reinforce the international perception that there are still more
assets to be returned". Source: Swissinfo.ch.The question is what reputation
does Switzerland deserve apart from being a save haven centre? Is it clean,
transparent and cooperative country?
still do not hold money for Omar Bongo, Lansana Conte, Obiang Nguemaa, Denis
Sassou Nguesso, Eduardo dos Santos, Blaise Campore, Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak,
Arap Moi, Gnassingbe Eyadema, Ibrahim Babaginda, Jerry Rawling all of them
corrupt dictators with little to show for the billions of dollars that they
received from the sale of oil, gas, gold, diamond, timber and other
resources.
paid Omar Bongo $50 million a year for concession rights in his oil rich but
economically impoverished country.The executives claimed the millions of
dollars were transferred into Bongo's Swiss bank accounts. But we have not
heard any comment from Switzerland regarding that money and now that Bongo
is dead there is no doubt that what Democratic Republic of Congo went
through will be the fate for Gabon should they make any attempt to retrieve
the money. It is a common knowledge that the late Omar Bongo of Gabon, Denis
Sassou Nguesso of Congo, Dos Santos of Angola, Obiang Nguema of E. Guinea
like their old friends (Abacha, Mobutu and Conte) have billions of dollars
stashed in Swiss Banks.
have led millions of people who could have lived to die of poverty,
malnutrition, starvation and diseases. While more than 800 million Indians
live in poverty and in squalor, with little access to education, health,
water and sanitation, the BJP party estimated during the May 2009 election
campaign that the nation has lost close to $1.4 trillion most of it stashed
in foreign banks notably in Switzerland.
money laundering activities involving the former prime minister of
Madagascar. As a result a Swiss bank will refund SFr2.8 million ($2.3
million) to Tantely Andrianarivo, a move that has "disappointed and shocked"
the Madagascan government, which has demanded the money back" to be used to
help millions of people languishing in poverty. Source: Swissinfo.ch.
reputation. Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research LLP says: "The idea
that Switzerland has a clean economy is a joke; it is a dirt-driven
economy". Her economy is dirt-driven because her financial institutions (a
vital sector of her economy) have been implicated in a number of corruption
scandals involving corrupt third world leaders and their associates. In fact
Switzerland can best be described as economic vampire, parasite and predator
feeding on the economies of poor African and third world countries. The
Swiss Bankers Association claims that four-fifths of the nation supports
banking secrecy laws. This law is the foundation of all the corruption,
embezzlement, tax evasions and all the criminal enterprises that we see in
the world.
almost all the citizens of that country. The Swiss Bankers Association
claims that four-fifths of the nation supports banking secrecy, revealing a
society deeply embedded in a culture of impunity and exploitation, where the
licit acts as a shield protecting the illicit in a terribly respectable
manner. Source:
http://www.globalpolicy.org
standards. Her politicians condemn corruption in Africa and the third world
while her banks make fortunes off that corruption. She claims to be a
champion of democracy and development but the actions of her banks and
companies like SGS, UBS have proven other wise. If there is any justice in
the world her banking executives should have been put on trial by the
International Criminal Court for crime against humanity because there is no
difference between those who use guns to kill and those who kill millions by
accepting to hide money that could be used to save them from hunger,
starvation, malnutrition, diseases and provide them with medicines, water,
shelter, schools and electricity.
in Africa and the third world fall primarily on the poor people in those
poor countries who are denied every opportunity to escape poverty. Many live
in squalor with no access to health and sanitation facilities, water,
electricity, housing and even food. Over one million people in those poor
countries die of malaria, 90% of them from Africa with most of the victims
being children. Millions of others also die from starvation, hunger,
malnutrition, polio, mizzles, tuberculosis and six killer diseases. The
crime of those who die and those who continue to suffer is that they happen
to have corrupt incompetent leaders and a counterpart in Europe who is ready
to protect their looted funds.
poor are left on their own to fend for themselves with aid agencies being
left to pick the pieces with them. Millions have died, millions are starving
and many more are suffering as a result of the role played by Swiss banks,
real estate agencies and other companies. In this 21st century such
suffering cannot go on forever. Switzerland cannot continue to be a willful
accomplice in crimes involving the death of millions of children and women.
global community, tear down her banking secrecy laws and her corrupt
financial infrastructures that are responsible for the deaths and hunger of
millions of people. It is time for Switzerland to stop her banks from
accepting looted funds from Africa and the third world that make so many
face starvation, hunger and death. The banks must be called to order and
should be tasked to employ due diligence in dealing with their clients
especially the dictators and their associates from Africa and the third
world.
into action and deeds and repatriate all the stolen money to its rightful
owners and stop parasiting on poor African and third world countries so they
can also have the opportunity to escape poverty like most citizens of
Switzerland have.
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