Wed. Feb 19th, 2025

$110 million worth of Syrian assets frozen in Switzerland economy


The value of Syrian assets deposited in Swiss banks and frozen due to sanctions amounted to about 99 million francs ($112 million), according to the Ministry of Economy in Bern.

The ministry denied that any of this money belonged to the ousted President Bashar al-Assad, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.

The Ministry explained that these funds were frozen under the sanctions adopted by Switzerland in 2011 in agreement with the European Union, which targeted Al-Assad and his partners due to the widespread human rights violations committed by his government.

But she clarified that these assets do not belong to Assad directly, confirming reports published by the newspaper “Neue Züricher Zeitung” that the Syrian assets in the Swiss banking system are relatively few.

The newspaper revealed that Swiss financial institutions had at one time held frozen Syrian assets worth 130 million Swiss francs ($147 million), according to what Reuters reported.

The Swiss newspaper stated that when any dictator falls, as happened with Assad after the opposition factions took control of Damascus on Sunday, “Switzerland and its financial position automatically become at the forefront of attention.”

But it does not seem that Swiss banks will start pursuing “Assad’s millions” in the near future, as “financial relations between Switzerland and Syria have virtually frozen since 2011,” according to the Zurich-based newspaper.

The newspaper also pointed out that Swiss banks have largely withdrawn from the Syrian market, which was profitable in the early 2000s.

The Swiss sanctions list currently includes 318 individuals and 87 entities related to Syria and Assad, whose overthrow ended more than five decades of his family’s rule.

Thanks to their policy of secrecy, Swiss banks have long become a haven for governments and individuals wishing to avoid international scrutiny.


Related Post