Switzerland is stepping up its efforts to combat companies and individuals who use a neutral country to circumvent sanctions against Russia. This was reported by Reuters, according to UNN.
Details
It is noted that the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has set up a group of specialists to investigate and enforce the sanctions imposed by the government after Russia's invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
The move comes after Switzerland was criticized last year for not doing enough to prevent Russians from hiding money in Swiss banks.
According to the agency, about 7.7 billion Swiss francs ($8.81 billion) of Russian assets were frozen at the end of last year, which is only a fraction of the 150 billion francs of Russian money estimated to be held in Swiss banks.
SECO reported that since Russia's war against Ukraine, it has received 230 reports of potential sanctions violations from financial companies, customs officials, and other countries.
This resulted in 47 proceedings, of which 20 cases were closed and nine resulted in fines of varying severity. According to SECO, about 18 cases are still active, and new ones are being added to them on a regular basis.
Addendum
Most of the cases concern violations of the ban on exports of luxury goods or goods of economic importance to Russia that could support Moscow's military efforts, SECO said.
While SECO conducts simpler investigations, more complex cases are referred to the Prosecutor General's Office, which last week said it was investigating possible violations.
The complexity of these cases is very high. For example, companies often hide behind other companies, and we have to establish who the actual owner is,
According to him, other countries now recognize that Switzerland takes sanctions seriously.