Switzerland Says Ready To Return Assets Of Ousted President Yanukovych To Ukraine Soon

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2021) Switzerland will return to Ukraine frozen assets belonging to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage after all necessary judicial procedures are completed, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said.

The Swiss government previously extended several times the freeze of assets belonging to Yanukovych and people close to him. In 2019, a source close to the Ukrainian ex-president's family said that Yanukovych did not have any assets or accounts in Europe, while his son Alexander had a company, Mako Trading SA, registered in Switzerland. The company's account had about $1.7 million arrested.

Following a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart on Thursday, Cassis confirmed that there is mutual assistance between Ukraine and Switzerland in the judicial sphere, in particular, concerning the return of 70 million Swiss francs (about $76 million) that "belong to the Ukrainian people.

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As soon as all necessary procedures are completed, Switzerland will return these assets to Ukraine, seven years after they had been frozen, he noted. Cassis added that the ground is being set to return the funds when the "legal situation" in Ukraine changes.

In March 2014, the Swiss authorities froze the assets of Yanukovych, who was ousted in course of the coup in Ukraine. Apart from Yanukovych's assets, the assets of his 19 associates, including former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and head of Presidential Administration Andriy Klyuyev, were frozen as well.