arrested right away . `` I do n't know how a criminal like him goes free , '' said Enrico Monfrini , a Switzerland-based lawyer who has been representing the Haitian government in a long and drawn out legal battle over Duvalier 's cash . Duvalier reportedly lost a chunk of his wealth when he and Bennet divorced , but the family still has $ 5.7 million in assets in a frozen bank account in Switzerland that belongs to a family foundation . Now , a Swiss law enacted specifically to help repatriate stolen funds from failing states may help return the Duvalier money to Haiti , said Daniel Thelesklaf , executive director of the International Centre for Asset Recovery in Switzerland . `` I am optimistic there will be a decision by the end of the year , '' he said . The law , which goes into effect February 1 , was enacted to help Switzerland overcome existing hurdles with states that have no mutual legal assistance partnership with Switzerland or with troubled nations that are incapable of dealing with such issues , according to the Swiss Foreign Ministry . For a judge order restitution , a government
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The sun had not risen yet on that February day in 1986 when Jean-Claude `` Baby Doc '' Duvalier 's eight-vehicle motorcade of luxury cars and jeeps arrived at the Port-au-Prince airport , then named for his father . Surrounded by soldiers and about 100 journalists who came to witness the end of an era in Haiti , the dictator boarded a United States Air Force C-141 jet along with his glamorous wife , Michele Bennet , their two children and 20 friends and servants . Also on the plane that day were trunks of designer clothes , gold , jewels and priceless art . What could not be seen was the hundreds of millions of dollars Haitian officials accused the Duvalier clan of stealing from state coffers . The pillaging of Haiti 's national treasury now lies at the heart of legal action against Duvalier , who stunned the world by returning to Haiti this week from some 25 years of quiet exile in France . Some lawyers who have been following the Duvalier money trail for years were flabbergasted that such a man was able to enter Haiti legally , that he was not