Switzerland was once a global crossroads of crime and money.
It was a country where dictators, corrupt officials, drug kingpins and common crooks could put their loot with virtual impunity, hiding behind banking secrecy laws the Swiss stuck to with zealous devotion.
But from the 1980s, Switzerland has gradually weakened the 75-year-old legal regime that made it a haven for shady funds. That sprang from a genuine desire to cleanse the system of the taint of crime, as well as international pressure that has intensified since terrorist financing became a global concern and chasing tax-dodgers became a political priority in the US and Europe.
Two years ago, Hans Rudolf-Merz, then the Swiss finance minister, said the country was tightening fiscal policy further and did not want to feature on an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development blacklist of tax havens.
"This is a softening of absolute bank secrecy", he said at the time, according to a Bloomberg News report. "It won't be met with joy at all the banks."
Other long-time havens have followed suit, including Austria and Luxembourg. But lawyers say the swiftness with which Switzerland has acted against embattled Middle Eastern and North African regimes in recent months underscores an especially poignant break from its culture of secrecy.
Switzerland was the first country to announce asset freezes against Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian president who was ousted in January, and Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president ousted the following month. It was also first to freeze accounts connected to regimes in Libya and Syria as they contend with months of protests and fighting.
"Switzerland has decided to fight against the presence of that kind of money," says Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss lawyer known as the "dictator hunter" for his efforts to recover funds stolen by the former Nigerian dictator, the late Sani Abacha.
"Switzerland is no longer a safe haven for these people. They know that. Since the Abacha case came out, they tend to go elsewhere or remain in Switzerland and become more astute in hiding the money and laundering the money better."
According to Mr Monfrini and other observers, the new havens for illicit funds are far from the traditional European centres, although Jersey and Guernsey - a pair of British islands off the coast of France - remain attractive for some.
Observers say such money is moving eastwards to such places as Hong Kong and Singapore, and to Central America and even into some parts of the Middle East.
As an international consensus builds around isolating corrupt leaders and criminals from the global financial system, however, many people say it will not be long before the remaining offshore jurisdictions tighten the screws.
Alongside direct political pressure from some of the world's leading countries, the UN in 2003 enacted its convention against corruption, which required signatory nations to assist each other in finding and returning ill-gotten gains. Switzerland signed it, as did Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and the UAE.
"I think the noose is becoming tighter and dictators have to think twice now before they can just move assets out of the country," says Abdul Aziz al Yaqout, the Middle East head of DLA Piper, a global law firm.
"You will never solve the problem because you will always find [someone] who, for a good fee, will take care of [the money].
"But you can make it more difficult for them."
Following this year's revolutions in North Africa, lawyers say co-operation on seizing assets from Switzerland and other jurisdictions will be tested like never before as new governments try to recover money squirrelled away in foreign banks by fallen regimes. Uncomfortable requests will be lodged with offshore centres that have so far stayed out of the spotlight, they say, putting more pressure on them to shape up.
Whatever the results, getting money back will also be a political priority for populations thirsty for financial retribution - a fact already demonstrated by shrill calls from interim governments in Egypt and Tunisia for countries across the globe to freeze assets of the regimes of Mr Mubarak and Mr Ben Ali.
"The principle shout being raised on the streets during the Arab Spring was about corruption and unelected governments helping themselves to enormous benefits without looking after the people," says Jeremy Carver, a lawyer based in London and a board member of the anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International.
* with reporting by Tom Arnold
afitch@thenational.ae
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh100,000 (estimate)
Engine 2.4L four-cylinder
Gearbox Nine-speed automatic
Power 184bhp at 6,400rpm
Torque 237Nm at 3,900rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.4L/100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
UK%20record%20temperature
%3Cp%3E38.7C%20(101.7F)%20set%20in%20Cambridge%20in%202019%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The five pillars of Islam
Aayan%E2%80%99s%20records
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20UAE%20men%E2%80%99s%20cricketer%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWhen%20he%20debuted%20against%20Bangladesh%20aged%2016%20years%20and%20314%20days%2C%20he%20became%20the%20youngest%20ever%20to%20play%20for%20the%20men%E2%80%99s%20senior%20team.%20He%20broke%20the%20record%20set%20by%20his%20World%20Cup%20squad-mate%2C%20Alishan%20Sharafu%2C%20of%2017%20years%20and%2044%20days.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20wicket-taker%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAfter%20taking%20the%20wicket%20of%20Bangladesh%E2%80%99s%20Litton%20Das%20on%20debut%20in%20Dubai%2C%20Aayan%20became%20the%20youngest%20male%20cricketer%20to%20take%20a%20wicket%20against%20a%20Full%20Member%20nation%20in%20a%20T20%20international.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20in%20T20%20World%20Cup%20history%3F%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAayan%20does%20not%20turn%2017%20until%20November%2015%20%E2%80%93%20which%20is%20two%20days%20after%20the%20T20%20World%20Cup%20final%20at%20the%20MCG.%20If%20he%20does%20play%20in%20the%20competition%2C%20he%20will%20be%20its%20youngest%20ever%20player.%20Pakistan%E2%80%99s%20Mohammed%20Amir%2C%20who%20was%2017%20years%20and%2055%20days%20when%20he%20played%20in%202009%2C%20currently%20holds%20the%20record.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The lowdown
Badla
Rating: 2.5/5
Produced by: Red Chillies, Azure Entertainment
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Gulf rugby
Who’s won what so far in 2018/19
Western Clubs Champions League: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens: Dubai Hurricanes
West Asia Premiership: Bahrain
What’s left
UAE Conference
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Hurricanes II v Al Ain Amblers, Jebel Ali Dragons II v Dubai Tigers
March 29, final
UAE Premiership
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Exiles v Jebel Ali Dragons, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Hurricanes
March 29, final
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
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Coal Black Mornings
Brett Anderson
Little Brown Book Group