A Swiss banking source said on Friday that Greek authorities have requested the blocking of about USD 215 million deposited in a Zurich fund manager by a Greek businessman.
"This money has been blocked at the request of the authorities," the banking source said, confirming information published about the freeze today in a Swiss and a German newspaper.
Greek authorities have 90 days to formally request the blocking of the funds said the source.
According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the Swiss Handelszeitung, the frozen funds belong to the Greek businessman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis, an Athenian entrepreneur who made his fortune in chemicals.
At the initiative of the Athens prosecutor, the Swiss were asked to block funds deposited in three accounts opened for Lavrentiadis and they were frozen.
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A deputy spokeswoman for the Swiss Department of Justice and Police of Switzerland, Ingrid Ryser, said "we do not comment in principle on a provisional remedy in connection with criminal proceedings."
The Proton small private bank was bailed out by the Greek state in October.
Lavrentiadis became president of the Ala*** chemicals company and the principal shareholder of the small private bank Proton.
This bank was bailed out by the Greece in October 2011, and has been the subject of a criminal investigation there since January 2011.
"This money has been blocked at the request of the authorities," the banking source said, confirming information published about the freeze today in a Swiss and a German newspaper.
Greek authorities have 90 days to formally request the blocking of the funds said the source.
According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the Swiss Handelszeitung, the frozen funds belong to the Greek businessman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis, an Athenian entrepreneur who made his fortune in chemicals.
At the initiative of the Athens prosecutor, the Swiss were asked to block funds deposited in three accounts opened for Lavrentiadis and they were frozen.
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[TD]
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A deputy spokeswoman for the Swiss Department of Justice and Police of Switzerland, Ingrid Ryser, said "we do not comment in principle on a provisional remedy in connection with criminal proceedings."
The Proton small private bank was bailed out by the Greek state in October.
Lavrentiadis became president of the Ala*** chemicals company and the principal shareholder of the small private bank Proton.
This bank was bailed out by the Greece in October 2011, and has been the subject of a criminal investigation there since January 2011.
