Switzerland's highest court has ruled that Motorola Inc. will receive disputed funds the former owners of the Turkish telecom company Telsim had deposited in Swiss banks.
The Swiss Federal Tribunal in the ruling published Wednesday rejected an appeal by members of the wealthy Uzan family against a 2006 Zurich court ruling to transfer the funds to Motorola, a cell phone maker and technology company based in Schaumburg, Ill.
The ruling did not specify the amount of the money, but billions of dollars have been involved in the case, the main part of which is in the United States.
Switzerland's highest court said the lawsuit filed by Motorola Credit Corp. against the Uzans was under American jurisdiction. It only decided on the part of the case that concerned funds in Swiss banks.
A U.S. federal judge in July 2003 ordered the Uzan family to pay more than $4 billion to a division of Motorola finding that the family bilked the telecommunications company with an "almost endless series of lies."
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, ruling on a civil lawsuit in New York, also ordered five leading members of the Uzan family to be arrested if they set foot in the United States.
Motorola Credit Corp. and Nokia Corp. had accused the Uzans of borrowing money to build a next-generation wireless network _ with no intention of paying back the money.
From 1998 to 2000, Motorola and Nokia transferred $2.7 billion in loans to the Uzan-controlled telecom company, Telsim. The family diverted at least $1 billion of that money to themselves and other entities, the 2003 ruling found.
A Zurich district court in 2006 said the U.S. ruling was to be carried out in Switzerland, including transferring funds of the Uzans in Swiss banks to Motorola. The Uzans appealed against the decision.
The Swiss Federal Tribunal rejected their appeal saying that there is no doubt the U.S. justice was in charge of the Uzan trial. It also rejected the appellants' claim that implementing the U.S. ruling would breach public order in Switzerland.
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