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A Swiss court has rejected an appeal by the family of Haiti's former
dictator to reclaim the money it had stashed away in Swiss bank
accounts.
The family of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier has
not been able to gain access to the accounts, totaling $6 million,
since 2002.
The court's rejection of the family's appeal opens
the way for the Swiss government's plan to give the money to aid
agencies in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
The government says the Duvalier family has failed to prove the money in the accounts is of legitimate origin.
The
court said the Duvalier family had diverted public Haitian funds into
the Swiss accounts through a Liechtenstein foundation. The Swiss court
described the foundation as a "criminal organization."
The Duvaliers can appeal the case.
Switzerland
has long been known as a country where money could be easily hidden
because of its banking secrecy rules. However, recent banking
reforms have made it harder to hide money there.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
