SWITZERLAND: FAMILY AND FRIENDS GATHER IN GENEVA FOR BURIAL OF BILLIONAIRE FINANCIER EDMOND SAFRA
Record ID:
636775
SWITZERLAND: FAMILY AND FRIENDS GATHER IN GENEVA FOR BURIAL OF BILLIONAIRE FINANCIER EDMOND SAFRA
- Title: SWITZERLAND: FAMILY AND FRIENDS GATHER IN GENEVA FOR BURIAL OF BILLIONAIRE FINANCIER EDMOND SAFRA
- Date: 6th December 1999
- Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (DECEMBER 6, 1999) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF ARRIVALS AT THE CEREMONY IN GENEVA'S SYNAGOGUE (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. SV: ISRAEL'S FOREIGN MINISTER DAVID LEVY ARRIVING AT CEREMONY 0.25 3. CU/SLV: CLOSE UP OF FLOWERS SENT BY FRENCH ACTOR ALAIN DELON (2 SHOTS) 0.35 4. WIDE OF ARRIVALS AT SYNAGOGUE 0.47 5. EXT: EXTERIOR OF CEREMONY WITH SOUNDBITE OF PRAYER 0.52 6. WIDE OF CAR WITH EDMOND SAFRA'S COFFIN 1.09 7. SV: CLOSE UP OF FAMILY AND PARENTS FOLLOWING THE COFFIN 1.17 8. SCU: WOMAN CRYING 1.24 9. WIDE OF COFFIN AND CORTEGE ARRIVING AT THE JEWISH CEMETERY 1.40 10. SLV: SIGN TO CEMETARY 1.42 11. CU: FORMER U.N. CHIEF JAVIER PEREZ DE CUELLAR ARRIVING 1.47 12. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL JAVIER PEREZ DE CUELLAR SAYING: "For me and everyone elese who met him it is a tremendous loss. He was a very good man, an extremely clever man. He was a man who combined these two qualities in a incredible manner. We, Christians, Jews and Moslems, we are together now, thinking of him. I really have a feeling of a great loss." 2.22 13. HAS: NOBEL LAUREATE AND HOLOCAUST HISTORIAN ELIE WIESEL ARRIVING AT CEMETERY 2.25 14. HAS: PRINCE EMANUELE FILIBERTO OF SAVOY, WHO IS IN IN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND, ARRIVING AT CEMETERY 2.33 15. WIDE OF ARRIVALS AT CEMETERY (3 SHOTS) 2.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 21st December 1999 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Reuters ID: LVAC7PZLQVO4DC15GXBUQSXQ01RH
- Story Text: Family and friends have gathered in Geneva for the
burial of billionaire financier Edmond Safra, who died of
suffocation in a suspicious fire in his luxury Monaco
penthouse on Friday.Former U.N.Secretary General Javier
Perez de Cuellar was among the mourners at the funeral.
Family and friends gathered in Geneva on Monday
(December 6) for the burial of Lebanese-born banker Edmond
Safra, who died alongside his female nurse when flames
engulfed his vast appartment early on Friday.
Israel's Foreign Minister David Levy, Nobel laureate and
Holocaust historian Elie Wiesel, former U.N.chief Javier
Perez de Cuellar, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan and top figures
from the world of finance were among those attending the
funeral.
As investigators tried to solve the mystery surrounding
the ailing and childless banker's death, Swiss newspapers,
which were full of death notices from friends and associates,
on Monday (December 6) speculated about the possibility of
inside involvement.
The Jewish Syrian-born banker, who was about to receive 3
billion United States dollars from the sale of two financial
institutions to British bank HSBC, died alongside his female
nurse when flames engulfed his vast apartment early on Friday.
He was 67.
A male nurse, described as a privileged witness to the
events, said two hooded assailants armed with knives
penetrated Safra's high-security residence overlooking Monte
Carlo's luxury marina before the fire broke out.
Alexander Bruggman, spokesman for the Republic Bank of New
York in Geneva, told Reuters a service would be held at a
Geneva synagogue, not in Jerusalem as originally planned.
Safra was the bank's president and managing director.
Financial and political leaders in Israel, where Safra's
family had financial interests, expressed sorrow.
Although autopsies confirmed that Safra, who suffered from
Parkinson's disease, and his nurse Viviane Torrente, 52, died
of suffocation as the fire swept through his Riviera flat,
officials are disturbed by conflicting versions of the events.
The male nurse, in hospital with knife wounds, told police
two assailants had broken into the apartment while Torrente,
who made six emergency phone calls to a colleague outside the
premises before she died, spoke of one.
Monaco's chief prosecutor Daniel Serdet told reporters that
investigators were also puzzled about how intruders could have
penetrated the sophisticated security system protecting
Safra's 1000 sq metre duplex apartment.
Investigators are not ruling out the possibility of inside
involvement in Safra's death.
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