Antiques Dealer Sentenced For Handling Stolen Artefacts

2023-01-12 02:14:14

(MENAFN- Swissinfo)

A renowned Swiss antiques dealer has been handed a suspended prison sentence for handling archeological artefacts stolen from the Middle East and covering them up with fraudulent documents.

This content was published on January 12, 2023 - 11:34 January 12, 2023 - 11:34 swissinfo.ch/mga

Español (es) anticuario sentenciado por manipular objetos robados

In addition to the 18-month suspended sentence, a court in Geneva also ordered Ali A to pay CHF450,000 ($485,000) in costs on Wednesday following a multi-year police investigation.

The dealer was found to have paid a treasure hunter to acquire artefacts from illegal digs in various countries in the Middle East and Greece.

Police found 42 artefacts of 'illicit origin' among 15,000 items in a storage unit in Geneva in December 2016. Their value is estimated at half a billion francs. They will now be handed back to the countries they were taken from.

The dealer had an international reputation in the antiques world and counted the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Louvre Museum as clients.

In 2021, he was fined CHF1.6 million in a separate hearing brought by Swiss customs and has is facing a claim of CHF4 million in unpaid taxes on imported antiques.

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