Unclear if money still in German account
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss media reports Friday morning on a payment by Switzerland to Hannibal Qaddafi, son of the Libyan leader, show some confusion over whether or not the Qaddafi clan actually picked up the CHF1.5 million.
The payment to the younger son of Qaddafi was agreed to by both countries as part of a deal to retrieve the kidnapped Swiss businessman Max Goeldi and as reparation for damages for a photo published by the Tribune de Geneve of Hannibal Qaddafi after his arrest in Geneva for assaulting his staff at a hotel.
The agreement stipulated that the money would be paid if, once an investigation was completed, the person who leaked the photo from the police department in Geneva was identified. In fact, it appears that the payment was made before the investigation was completed.
The two countries also agreed that the money must be used for humanitarian purposes.
The Swiss foreign affairs ministry late Thursday 3 March told Swiss news agency ATS that to its knowledge, shortly before the Libyan protests began in February, the money was still in the German account where it was placed in the summer of 2010, confirming a report earlier in the day by the Tribune de Geneve.
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Tribune de Geneve (Fr), TSR (Fr)
Sample biometric residence card, Switzerland
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland Monday 24 January begins issuing biometric residence permits to foreigners who are from outside the European Union or Efta (European Free Trade Association). Note for holders of residence permits: existing permits remain valid until the expiry date listed on them.
The new biometric residence permits, used with a passport, give the holder free travel without a visa, throughout the Schengen area.
The credit card size documents contain a biometric chip with data that will be stored for five years by the canton that issues it.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Back in 1993 someone told then-Swiss President Adolf Ogi that a group photo could do wonders for the popularity of the ruling seven-member Federal Council, Switzerland’s equivalent of a cabinet. And since then the ruling seven plus the chancellor, who oversees the administrative side of the government, have lined up every year for a photo. The 2011 version has a special look: for the first time in Swiss history, there are more women as councillors than men.
The seven members of the council are elected for four years and the one-year job of president rotates among them. Micheline Calmy-Rey, Socialist, is the 2011 president of the Swiss Confederation.
Left to right: Johann Schneider-Ammann, Didier Burkhalter, Doris Leuthard, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, lEveline Widmer-Schlumpf (vice-president), Ueli Maurer, Simonetta Sommaruga, Chancellor Corina Casanova
Update 3 / 14 June Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss businessman Max Goeldi, freed from prison in Libya 10 June, is en route home to Switzerland, news agency AFP reports his lawyer as saying Sunday night, possibly via Tunis.
Switzerland and Libya signed a “plan of action” Sunday in Tripoli, with Germany and Spain also signatories, to end the diplomatic impasse between the Swiss and Libyan governments. Max Goeldi, Swiss businessman and ABB employee who has been held in Libya for nearly two years, is scheduled to fly home from Tripoli, via Madrid, Sunday. Goeldi’s prison sentence in Libya for visa irregularities has been at the centre of the diplomatic tussle that began with the arrest in Geneva in July 2008 of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of Libya’s leader.
Swiss Secretary for Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey made the announcements about Goeldi’s flight home and the action plan as she came out of a meeting in Tripoli with her Libyan counterpart, Moussa Koussa. She also met with Libya’s leader Muammar Qadaffi in his reception tent, along with Spanish leader Miguel Angel Moratinos and Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, as well as other European leaders.
The plan of action includes the following:
- a tribunal will be created to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Qadaffi in July 2008, to which then-Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz agreed in principle in August 2009;
- Switzerland will offer Libya an official apology for the theft of a police mug shot of Hannibal Qadaffi from police files, and for their publication in the Tribune de Geneve newspaper, and those who stole the material will be prosecuted (it was revealed that a criminal case has already been opened);
- Max Goeldi’s request for a judicial pardon from Libya will be expedited.
TSR, Swiss public television, reports that Tripoli says Geneva has already paid CHF1.5 million euros to Hannibal Qadaffi, a sum that has not been verified and that runs counter to statements made earlier by Bern.
Swiss Secretary for Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey made the announcements about Goeldi’s flight home and the action plan as she came out of a meeting in Tripoli with her Libyan counterpart, Moussa Koussa.
Background, GenevaLunch
Thank you for joining us in 2009 to learn more about the Lake Geneva region in 2009 and we look forward to helping you stay informed in 2010.
Our New Year’s wish for you: rise above it – seek the peaks in your life, just waiting for you to find them.
Image: Ellen Wallace. Canton Valais, Switzerland, changing weather, 31 December 2009 (click on image to view larger)
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer and his family have posted a Federer Christmas card with a family photo, answering requests from fans for another look at the twin girls born in July, taken by Robbie Federer. Within a short time more than 300 comments had appeared.
Background, GenevaLunch
