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Daniel the drug dealer was caught with 20.000€ of illegaly earned money while crossing the border into Switzerland. The money was covered in traces of all kinds of drugs, so the court did not believe any of his stories about where he got the money from (also, cash in excess of 10.000€ must be declared when crossing the border, as a measure against tax evasion). The court found him guilty of drug dealing, attempted money laundering and similar crimes and charged him with a fine of 1000Fr, plus court fees.

But what happens with the seized money? I can think of several options:

  • It is returned to Daniel, deduced by the fine. (Unlikely, because in this case, the crime would have been worth it, as the fine is significantly lower than the cash earned)
  • The money is destroyed by the court (Destroying money is illegal in itself, though)
  • The money becomes property of the state (Sounds a bit weird, as this would make the state benefit from a crime)
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  • I'm seeing two problems with the assertions you make setting up your question: 1) Why do you think 'destroying money' is illegal? As far as I'm aware it's only a crime for private citizens to deface or destroy legal tender, which is an entirely different thing from the court, as an agent of government, declaring the money forfeit.
    – Shadur-don't-feed-the-AI
    Commented Mar 14, 2023 at 8:24
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    ... And 2) this does not make the state benefit from a crime. At its most cynical reading, this would make the state benefit from catching a criminal. All other considerations aside for the sake of this particular discussion, apprehending criminals sounds like behavior that should be incentivized.
    – Shadur-don't-feed-the-AI
    Commented Mar 14, 2023 at 8:26
  • @Shadur These are probably just the points I'm missing. I'm asking because all of the possibilities I can imagine have some question mark behind them.
    – PMF
    Commented Mar 14, 2023 at 9:05
  • FWIW, almost all currency in circulation has traces of drugs on it. Currency used by drug dealers doesn't have more than currency used by other people. Of course, we can assume otherwise for purposes of the hypothetical in the question, since that is really only a nitpicky side point.
    – ohwilleke
    Commented Mar 15, 2023 at 19:26
  • Switzerland would not be interested in the EU exit requirements for cash. Cash, foreign currencies, securities - Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS - Switzerland: Unrestricted amounts of liquid funds, i.e. cash, foreign currency and securities (shares, bonds and cheques) can be imported into Switzerland, brought through Switzerland in transit or exported from Switzerland. Furthermore, the funds do not need to be declared.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Mar 15, 2023 at 21:53

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The money is forfeited to the state

This would normally be the case even if Daniel is acquitted. The proceeds of crime may be seized using forfeiture rules which require Daniel to prove that the suspect money is legitimate.

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    Something to back this up would be nice.
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Mar 15, 2023 at 6:13

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