Correction below

The Swiss foreign ministry said in a statementits federal council ordered a freeze of any assets believed to be in the name of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who resigned earlier Friday after 18 days of massive protests.

The order lasts for three years, according to the statement. It also bans the sale or disposal of any assets such as real estate during that time period.

"Any assets of the former Egyptian President Mubarak and parties close to him that may be located in Switzerland have been frozen with immediate effect," the statement says. "In this way the Federal Council is taking all the measures required to avoid any misappropriation of government assets."

A ministry spokesman declined to tell the Wall Street Journal how much money was involved, or name the banks holding the money. Estimates of the measure of Mubarak's wealth are largely speculative, with The Guardian pegging it at as much as $70 billion in a recent story.