The Swiss government, fending off a public-relations disaster, froze at least $4.6 million held in Swiss bank accounts rather than comply with a court order to return the money to the family of Haiti's former leader, Jean-Claude Duvalier.

On Jan. 11, the day before a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, Switzerland's Supreme Court reversed a lower court's decision that would have handed over the money to aid organizations. In 1986, the Haitian government lodged a request to recover the money, charging that Mr. Duvalier stole it from public funds before he was ousted that year. However, Switzerland pursues requests from foreign governments to return cash only when that government is pursuing a criminal investigation of its own as well.