Millions of dollars frozen in Swiss bank accounts will be given to the government of Haiti if the family of former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier cannot prove by September that the money is legitimate, the Swiss Justice Ministry said Wednesday.
Many in Haiti consider the money was stolen from public funds before Duvalier was ousted in 1986. He has always denied that.
The ministry said it would hand over the 7.6 million Swiss francs ($7.5 million) at the end of September unless the family proves it is entitled to the money. It is in accounts in the names of Duvalier, who is believed to be living in exile in France, and members of his family.
Switzerland has traditionally been a favorite location for dictators' money because of its banking secrecy rules. But reforms over the past two decades have made it harder to hide money in Switzerland, and the country has become a world leader in returning such cash.
Of about $730 million in Swiss accounts linked to the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, virtually all has been returned to the West African country.
In 2003, Switzerland gave the Philippines government hundreds of millions of dollars stashed in Swiss banks by late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The Swiss government froze the Duvalier money in 2002 because it "wished to prevent the abuse of Switzerland's financial sector as a place of safety for assets acquired by unlawful means," the ministry said in a statement.
Lawyers for victims of the Duvalier regime are trying to prevent his family from gaining access to the money, arguing it should be returned to the Haitian people.
Switzerland's supreme court ruled in 2006 that an indefinite freeze on private funds was unconstitutional. That case involved 8 million francs ($6.6 million) deposited in Swiss banks by the former Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko.
If the government decides to hand over the funds to the Haitian authorities, the account holders can appeal the decision to Switzerland's Federal Criminal Tribunal.
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