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Monday, June 17, 2002 - Web posted at 11:41:56 am GMT

ZURICH, June 17 (AFP) - US attorney Ed Fagan was heckled and booed by a crowd in the heart of Zurich's financial centre on Monday, forcing him to retreat from presenting a lawsuit against Switzerland's two biggest banks on behalf of victims of South Africa's former apartheid regime.

Fagan, who was planning to outline his case to the media outside the headquarters of several banks, was confronted by a crowd of angry onlookers, according to an Nampa-AFP correspondent.

The leading US corporate affairs lawyer got into a taxi and drove off, amid shouts of "Fagan, Go Home" from several dozen, mainly elderly onlookers.

The media presentation was re-scheduled later in a Zurich hotel.

Fagan played a leading role during the late 1990s in pressing compensation claims against Swiss banks by Holocaust survivors, triggering international pressure on Switzerland to account for its record during World War II.

He was expected to outline a new class action lawsuit for reparations from UBS, Credit Suisse and US bank Citibank on behalf of six South African victims of apartheid, which is due to be filed in a US court in Manhattan later on Monday.

Another press conference was due to take place in Soweto at the same time as Fagan's appearance in Zurich.

On Sunday, Fagan declined to specify the amount being sought in reparations, but Swiss newspapers reported that the two Swiss banks faced a claim of 80 billion Swiss francs (51.3 billion dollars, 54 billion euros).

He told Nampa-AFP that further class action lawsuits were planned against other US and European based financial institutions and companies.

The current lawsuit involved six lead plaintiffs, he added, saying however that he expected more to join.

The banks are accused of "profiteering" under the apartheid regime. They have also been accused by anti-apartheid campaigners of helping to prop up white-only rule in South Africa by continuing to do business with the authorities there after 1985.

Fagan is being supported by South African human rights lawyer Dumisa Ntsebeza, who will lead the international team in the fight for reparations, the legal team said in a statement.

"The targets are the private US and European based multi-national industries that profiteered from their business dealings in South Africa during the period from 1948 to 1993," the statement said.

UBS said on Sunday there was no basis for the lawsuit, while Credit Suisse said there was no legal basis for the claims, which it dismissed as unsubstantiated.

"Credit Suisse Group operated at all times according to all applicable laws and the Swiss government's regulations for doing business with South Africa," spokeswoman Claudia Kraaz added.

Switzerland, which is due to join the United Nations in September, did not take part in UN economic sanctions against South Africa's apartheid regime.

Fagan played a key role in forcing Swiss banks into a 1.25 billion dollar settlement in the United States with Jewish groups, Holocaust victims and their heirs in 1998, following a similar class action lawsuit.

Several thousand Holocaust victims have been trying for several decades to recover money held in bank accounts in Switzerland after World War II. - Nampa-AFP

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