Posted on: August 31, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
On 1 January 2016, the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act (‘AMLA’) will enter into force. The impetus for this revision was the implementation of the Revised Financial Action Task Force Recommendations of 2012. The Financial Action Task Force (‘FATF’) is an inter-governmental organisation which was established by the G-7 Summit in Paris in 1989. Its goal is to […]
Posted on: May 4, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
A recent art fraud scandal has put Mr Yves Bouvier into the media spotlight. Mr Bouvier, also known as the ‘Freeport King’, oversees freeport operations in Geneva, Luxembourg, and Singapore. He is the largest private shareholder of Ports Francs & Entreports de Geneve SA, the company running the freeport in Geneva. (The majority shareholder is […]
Posted on: February 24, 2015 by Alexander Herman
In a press release last week, the Kunstmuseum Bern explained that, due to the legal challenge to Cornelius Gurlitt’s will by his cousin Uta Werner (discussed by Nina Neuhaus here), there have as yet been no restitutions of artworks from the 2012 Munich art trove, neither by the museum, nor by any other body. Of course, news […]
Posted on: February 11, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
The Swiss police have seized a 61 x 45.5cm oil painting depicting the marquise Isabella d’Este from a vault of a trust company in Lugano, the southern part of Switzerland bordering Italy. Isabella d’Este, an influential figure in arts and politics during the Italian Renaissance, allegedly commissioned the portrait from Leonardo da Vinci. The portrait, […]
Posted on: January 14, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
On 17 December 2014, the Swiss Federal Council extended the existing sanctions against Syria by introducing a trade ban on cultural objects which were stolen or illegally exported from Syria. The EU had introduced a similar trade ban on 13 December 2013. According to Article 11c, which was inserted by the EU Council Regulation No 1332/2013 […]
Posted on: December 24, 2014 by Nina M. Neuhaus
The Swiss Customs Authorities at the Basel Airport discovered the 47cm tall statue in an inconspicuous parcel that was sent from the UK to a private individual in Switzerland. They immediately informed the Specialised Body for the International Transfer of Cultural Property at the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (‘Specialised Body’) of their discovery. The […]
Posted on: December 3, 2014 by Alexander Herman
For the first time since its discovery in February of 2012 – or indeed for the first time ever – the collection of approximately 1600 works of art belonging to Cornelius Gurlitt has been made public. This has been done by the Museum of Fine Art Bern (or Kunstmuseum) in two separate parts: those found in his […]
Posted on: November 25, 2014 by Alexander Herman
As reported yesterday, an agreement has been reached between the Bern Museum of Fine Arts (or Kunstmuseum), the German Republic and the Bavarian State on how to deal with the works of art bequeathed by Cornelius Gurlitt in his will to the Museum. A summary of the agreement is now available in English. In general […]
Posted on: November 24, 2014 by Nina M. Neuhaus
Alea iacta est… The decision in the Causa Gurlitt was highly anticipated. On Saturday, the board of trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts Bern (‘Museum’) decided to accept the bequest of the late Cornelius Gurlitt. This morning, the decision was publicly announced in a joint press meeting by the German government, the State of […]
Posted on: November 20, 2014 by Nina M. Neuhaus
On 26th November, the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts Bern will decide whether to accept the bequest of Cornelius Gurlitt. Unexpectedly, one of Gurlitt’s two cousins, Uta Werner, has threatened to challenge the will. Her claim is based on a psychiatric report, which she had commissioned from Dr Helmut Hausner, chief physician at […]