The Swiss government announced on Wednesday that it currently has 99 million Swiss francs ($112 million) worth of Syrian assets blocked in Switzerland, the majority of which have been for years.
According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), Switzerland has frozen the majority of the total since ratifying European Union sanctions against Syria in May 2011.
In response to an EU move, Switzerland this week added three more individuals to its list of people subject to sanctions related to Syria.
A Seco spokesperson told Reuters, “There are currently 318 individuals and 87 entities on the sanctions list,” without confirming whether Switzerland had frozen any of the assets of Bashar al-Assad, the ousted president of Syria.
According to the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper, Swiss financial institutions previously held 130 million Swiss francs ($147 million) in blocked Syrian assets.
A spokesperson for Seco stated, “Several factors, including fluctuations in the value of restricted securities accounts, exchange rate effects, and the delisting of certain sanctioned persons or entities, can explain fluctuations in the total amount of restricted assets.”
