Currently, Switzerland has 99 million Swiss francs ($112 million) in frozen Syrian assets, most of which have been blocked for years, the Swiss government announced on Wednesday.
The majority of these assets have been frozen since May 2011, when Switzerland adopted European Union sanctions against Syria, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco).
This week, Switzerland added three more individuals to its sanctions list related to Syria, following a similar move by the EU.
“There are currently 318 individuals and 87 entities on the sanctions list,” a Seco spokesperson stated, declining to confirm whether Switzerland had frozen any assets belonging to ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
At one point, Swiss financial institutions held Syrian assets worth 130 million Swiss francs ($147 million), reported the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
“Fluctuations in the total amount of restricted assets can be attributed to various factors, including changes in the value of frozen securities accounts, exchange rate effects, and the removal of certain individuals or entities from the sanctions list,” the Seco spokesperson explained.
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