Swiss banks freeze Mitterrand money

Mr Mitterrand's mother and brother have visited him

Swiss authorities have confirmed that any bank accounts held by the son of the late French President Francois Mitterrand have been frozen.

Jean-Christophe Mitterrand is being held in a French jail on suspicion of helping illegal arms sales to Angola.

Mr Mitterrand denies any wrongdoing

He admits receiving $1.8m, which was paid in to a Swiss bank account by an arms dealer, Pierre Falcone, who is at the centre of the arms-to-Angola inquiry.

But Mr Mitterrand says the payment was for help with a legal oil deal.

French banks have already been asked to freeze his assets and a Swiss investigating magistrate confirmed on Friday that the same action had been ordered there.

"The banks are obliged to freeze any accounts. If there any accounts, they have been blocked," said magistrate Daniel Devaud.

Investigators believe huge shipments of Russian arms reached Angola

The request came from French investigator Philippe Courroye.

One Swiss newspaper has reported that an account held by Mr Mitterrand at the private Darier bank has already been blocked, but this has not been confirmed.

Mr Mitterrand has been held in jail in France for more than a fortnight. Bail has been set at $700,000, which he says he cannot afford to pay.

French investigators believe the cash paid into the Swiss account was payment for helping to organise arms sales in 1993 and 1994, in a deal reputedly worth some $500m.

Francois Mitterand: Intensely personal relationships with Africa

They suspect Mr Mitterrand of acting as an intermediary for arms deals with African heads of state, by using close relationships built up during the Mitterrand presidency, when he acted as his father's special adviser on Africa.

Analysts say the period was marked by extremely close and intensely personal relationships between France and Africa, with many African presidents dealing directly with President Mitterrand, bypassing the Foreign Ministry and other official channels.

Mr Mitterrand is known by the nickname "papa-m'a-dit" (daddy told me) because of his frequent references to his father.