ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss authorities have agreed to a U.S. request to freeze funds with suspected links to Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov, a Swiss justice office spokesman said on Monday.
U.S. authorities are asking counterparts in Europe to seize about $1 billion in assets related to an investigation into three telecom companies and intermediaries close to Karimova, the Wall Street Journal had reported this month.
A spokesman for Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice, which granted the March request for mutual legal assistance in June, did not confirm the worth of the frozen assets but said it was less than the $640 million previously reported by the newspaper.
Reuters could not reach Karimova for comment.
In 2012, Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General (OAG) opened an investigation against six suspects, including Karimova, on suspicion of money laundering.
The OAG has so far blocked more than 800 million Swiss francs ($854 million) as part of the ongoing investigation.
($1 = 0.9366 Swiss francs)