Facts
The case concerns X., who performed various activities on behalf of the President of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko and was not remunerated for the period from September 1993 to March 1997. X. asserted a claim of 4,774,219 Swiss francs 10 cents against Mobutu and obtained a seizure of Mobutu's properties in Savigny. The Federal Council decided to block the assets of the late Mobutu and his entourage for an initial period of three years. The debt collection office refused to distribute the proceeds of the realizations in favor of X. due to the blocking decision made by the Federal Council.
The parties involved are X., the creditor, and the Swiss Confederation, which appealed against the decision of the cantonal supervisory authority. The courts involved are the District Court of the Eastern Vaud, the Civil Court of the Cantonal Court, the Court of Debt Collection and Bankruptcy of the Vaud Cantonal Court, and the Chamber of Debt Collection and Bankruptcy of the Federal Court.
Considerations
The question arises as to whether the blocking of the disputed assets ordered by the Federal Council based on Art. 184 para. 3 of the Federal Constitution is covered by Art. 44 DEBA. Art. 44 DEBA applies by analogy to a decision of the Federal Council ordering the blocking of assets based on Art. 184 para. 3 of the Federal Constitution.
The debt collection and bankruptcy authorities do not have the right to oppose a penal or fiscal "confiscation" with a decision that is their own and contrary, which could then be subject to a complaint from the law of debt collection. The conditions and effects of the seizure are within the competence of the authorities designated by the penal and fiscal laws.
The blocking measure ordered in 1997 by the Federal Office of Justice,…