Switzerland released Mobutu Sese Seko's frozen money to his heirs, and his body stays in Rabat

Mobutu Sese Seko ruled Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, until rebels forced him into exile in May 1997. He built a palace at Gbadolite, his home town. He died in exile in Rabat on 7 September 1997, aged 66. Switzerland froze about CHF 8 million of his assets in banks there after a Congolese request for legal assistance. Months after his death his villa at Savigny, in the canton of Vaud, was seized and its furniture and cars were sold. A couple bought the house in 2001 for CHF 3.1 million. UBS bought it at auction in 2016 for just over CHF 6 million and sold it by 2020 to a company. Prosecutors ruled that the statute of limitations had run out. On 14 July 2009 the Federal Criminal Court rejected an appeal to keep the freeze, and on 16 July Switzerland released about CHF 7.7 million to Mobutu's heirs, blaming the Congolese authorities' lack of support and the heirs' inflexibility. His body lies in the European cemetery of Rabat, in a marble family vault marked only "MSS" that holds him and two of his sons. In December 2007 the Congolese National Assembly recommended bringing his remains home. Joseph Kabila pledged to do so in 2013. Government spokesman Lambert Mende said in 2017 that a family dispute was blocking the transfer. In 2021 a bronze bust of Mobutu was unveiled at Gbadolite. His body had not been repatriated.