Zurich, Switzerland/Prague, Dec 8 (CTK) – The Swiss judiciary considers Czech Communist (KSCM) MEP Miloslav Ransdorf and the three Slovaks, who were detained with him in a Zurich bank on Thursday, accused, Corinne Bouvard, spokeswoman for the High State Attorney’s Office in Zurich, told CTK yesterday.
In general, a state attorney´s office launches criminal proceedings after receiving a police file, and thereby the suspects become accused in the Swiss legal system without being conveyed accusations formally, Bouvard said in an interview with CTK.
She first dismissed the information from the Aktuality.sk Slovak news server about the four men being accused in Switzerland. The server cited her as the source of information on Monday.
The misunderstanding was caused by differences between the Swiss and Czech legal systems.
In the Czech Republic, a suspect of a criminal offence becomes accused after being delivered the resolution on launching criminal proceedings issued by the police or, in exceptional cases, by a state attorney.
“After the investigation, the penal proceedings are either halted or charges are brought to court,” Bouvard said.
“However, it cannot be said now how the ongoing proceedings would end,” she added.
The Swiss police arrested Ransdorf, along with three Slovaks, in a Zurich bank on suspicion of a financial fraud in the form of an attempt to transfer a high sum, and they were questioned last week. Ransdorf, who denies any wrongdoing, and two of the Slovaks were released later. The third one is still in custody.
The investigation custody can be approved for up to three months in Switzerland, Bouvard said.
“However, the accused can file a request for release any time on which a court must be deciding again,” she said.
Ransdorf, 62, historian and philosopher by profession and a former Czech lawmaker, claims that he did not want to collect any money at the Swiss bank and only wanted to gain information on the inheritance from a Swiss citizen who died in 2005. A Czech citizen was the heir, he says.
Ransdorf says the money was certainly not any inheritance from an SS-man as alleged by the media or the property of the Jews who deposited it in the bank during the war.
Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak said Ransdorf and the three Slovaks had attempted to transfer a high sum on the basis of false documents in Switzerland. The sum concerned was 350 million euros, the Slovak media reported.
Ransdorf submitted documents refuting he committed any crime to a meeting with the KSC party board yesterday.
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