• Court reverses ruling money should go to Haiti charities
• Ministry works on law to block payout to ex-dictator's family
• Ministry works on law to block payout to ex-dictator's family
Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier in Port-au-Prince in 1975. His family can reclaim £2.9m from a Swiss bank, a court ruled. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis
The family of former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier can reclaim at least $4.6m (£2.9m) in Swiss bank accounts that had previously been awarded to aid groups, Switzerland's highest court said today.
The federal supreme court reversed a lower court's ruling that the money should have gone to charities working in the impoverished nation. The decision was reached hours before Haiti's devastating earthquake on 12 January, but was only published today.
Such delays are common in Switzerland's legal system.
The decision cannot be appealed against, but the Swiss foreign ministry said it would try to keep the money blocked while it works on a new law for dealing with assets of "criminal origin". It said the money actually totalled $5.7m. The reason for the discrepancy was unclear.
The government "wants to avoid the Swiss financial centre serving as a haven for illegally acquired assets," it said in a statement, adding that a law to work retrospectively could be ready this month.
Many Haitians accuse Duvalier and his entourage of robbing millions from public funds before he was ousted in 1986. Duvalier is believed to be living in exile in France and has always denied wrongdoing.
The court said the alleged crimes in the case fell outside the statute of limitations, reversing a decision in August by a lower court that found the Duvalier family had essentially acted as a "criminal organisation" by diverting public funds through a Liechtenstein foundation to accounts in Swiss bank UBS.
The supreme court said it was unhappy about the ruling but its hands were tied because the statute of limitations expired in 2001. It urged lawmakers to make it easier for assets belonging to deposed dictators to be repatriated to national governments.
Haiti made its first request for the money in 1986, shortly after Duvalier was overthrown.
It has been frozen ever since, but Switzerland has refused to give it back to Haiti because the Haitian government was not charging Duvalier with any crimes in its own justice system.
As a way out, the Swiss government had proposed to give the money to aid groups working in Haiti.
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