Switzerland is taking part in a multi-country group that includes the US and Germany that aims to disrupt funding for Hamas.
The country is already distributing material to banks on how to discover terrorist financing and its top prosecutor has started an investigation into alleged payments made to Hamas a few weeks before the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
The moves come amid ongoing criticism of neutral Switzerland that it hasn’t been tough enough in areas such as money laundering or enforcing Russian sanctions. It’s also come under pressure to join the international task force REPO — “Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs” — to track down Russian oligarch money.
The government said Wednesday that it is already participating in a separate network targeting Russian finances.
“We have decided in both cases that we can take part in the task force put together by the Americans regarding financing,” Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said Wednesday, referring to Russia and the Middle East.
Newspaper Tagesanzeiger earlier reported that Switzerland is involved in the RRIFS, or “Russia-Related Sanctions and Illicit Finance FIU Working Group.”
