With US In Retreat, Can Switzerland Maintain Fight Against Kleptocracy?

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The tough task of stopping illicit financial flows and returning stolen assets is being complicated by slow progress and waning US leadership. This content was published on September 11, 2025 - 09:00 9 minutes

Reporter specialised in Swiss foreign affairs, with a side hustle as a sub-editor in the English Department. Previously my focus was on disinformation and fact-checks, which I still produce occasionally.

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When public officials steal millions from state coffers, it's ordinary people who suffer.

In Nigeria, for example, patients seeking treatment at understaffed hospitals fail to receive proper care, said David Ugolor, executive director of the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ). The lack of money to repair classrooms means fewer children in school, while roads that go unrepaired increase the risk of traffic accidents.

The problem in Nigeria, Ugolor said,“has gone beyond corruption – it's state capture”. That means corrupt elites not only steal money but twist the law to maintain control.“And it's deepening inequality and poverty in the country,” he said.

Each year, Africa loses almost $90 billion (CHF72 billion) as corrupt officials and criminals send their ill-gotten gains out of the continent, the United NationsExternal link estimates. As a result, state investment in healthcare may be cut by half in affected countries and education by a quarter.

Some European and North American nations, amid a rash of scandals at their own banks, have targeted accounts held by foreign kleptocrats. Switzerland has so far returned over $2 billion in misappropriated funds, while the European Union adopted a new directiveExternal link in 2024 setting out rules for recovering illicit assets in its 27 member states.

This article is in response to a question from a Swissinfo reader who asked if it is true that foreign leaders, such as those in Africa, have hidden money in Swiss banks. If you have a question about Swiss trade or diplomacy that you'd like us to answer, get in touch by leaving a comment .

It's a drop in the ocean.“We're still seeing a lot more money being taken out of [developing countries] and moved into private hands than is being returned,” said Jackson Oldfield, director of the Germany-based Civil Forum for Asset Recovery (CiFAR).

Yet even as advocates call for a stronger and faster response, some fear that Western nations may no longer prioritise the fight against kleptocracy. Those concerns are only compounded as the United States, previously a driving force, withdraws from its global commitments.

Sending 'the wrong signal'

The fight against illicit finance in the US received a blow after a dedicated Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative at the Department of Justice was disbandedExternal link in the early days of President Donald Trump's second term.

The administration has also pausedExternal link enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and skipped meetings of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Working Group on Bribery.

“It has sent the wrong signal and is actually incentivising African governments that are corrupt,” said Ugolor at ANEEJ.“This is really unfortunate, particularly when we reflect back on the struggle to get this issue on the global agenda.”

Achievements have been hard won, from the inclusion of restitution as a key part of the 2004 UN Convention on Corruption, to the US and Britain hosting the Global Forum on Asset Recovery in 2017, where principlesExternal link were adopted for transferring stolen resources.

From pioneer to subject of criticism

Over the past decade, Switzerland has also played a leading role, the country's foreign ministry told Swissinfo, such as fostering international exchanges of information on cases. The country remains“strongly committed” to asset recovery, the ministry added, and“is taking measures to combat corruption” both domestically and internationally.

The crooked billions it has handed back are the result of decades of gradual work to shed its image as a centre for illicit finance. Switzerland tightened money-laundering legislation after becoming the first country, in 1986, to pre-emptively freeze the bank accounts of a corrupt leader: Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. By 2016, it had introduced a lawExternal link on returning foreign illicit assets.

A high point was the 2018 transfer to Nigeria of $321 million, part of the money stolen by former dictator Sani Abacha, who ruled in the 1990s, and his family. It marked the first time civic groups helped decide on and supervise where the cash went. Over 200 NGOs, led by ANEEJ, oversaw transfers to people living in poverty.

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“That was a success because for the first time money came to Nigeria that we could trace to beneficiaries in different parts of the country,” said Ugolor.“The process went smoothly, and it has increasingly become the standard.”

The same approach is being used to restitute some $313 million to Uzbekistan. Part of that is funding the renovation of maternity unitsExternal link .

Still, the Swiss record on asset recovery – identifying, freezing, confiscating and returning stolen money – isn't blemish-free. An earlier tranche of the Abacha funds saw much of the $700 million transferred reportedly disappear. A 2022 federal auditExternal link found weaknesses in the Swiss system. The 2016 law, the audit office said, is too limited and therefore difficult to use in practice.

Progress can also be slow. Swiss officials sometimes promise quick results when cases take years or decades to resolve. A total of CHF683 million in Marcos funds were returned to the Philippines after 60 court rulings over 18 years, though Bern has since updated legislation to speed up the process. Still, more recently, it took the Federal Court two years to rule on an appeal against a cantonal court decision to restitute CHF8 million to Peru in the case of the country's former intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos. This is“too long and unacceptable”, Oscar Solórzano from the Basel Institute on Governance toldExternal link Swiss investigative newsletter Gotham City.

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