PHILIPPINES: AN ANTI-GRAFT COURT HAS ORDERED THE ARREST OF FORMER PHILIPPINE FIRST LADY IMELDA MARCOS ON CHARGES OF STASHING 28 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS IN ILLEGAL WEALTH IN SWISS BANKS

Record ID: 647473

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: AN ANTI-GRAFT COURT HAS ORDERED THE ARREST OF FORMER PHILIPPINE FIRST LADY IMELDA MARCOS ON CHARGES OF STASHING 28 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS IN ILLEGAL WEALTH IN SWISS BANKS
  • Date: 16th October 2001
  • Summary: (U3) MANILA, PHILIPPINES (OCTOBER 16, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LAS/CU SANDIGANBAYAN COURT (2 SHOTS) 0.06 2. CU ARREST ORDER (2 SHOTS) 0.11 3. SV IMELDA MARCOS ARRIVING AT COURT (2 SHOTS) 0.25 4. SV MARCOS ENTERING ROOM IN COURTHOUSE/WALKS INTO OFFICE (2 SHOTS) 0.57 5. SV MEDIA 1.01 6. MCU MARCOS IS FINGERPRINTED 1.15 7. MCU MEDIA 1.17 8. MCU/CU MORE OF MARCOS BEING FINGERPRINTED (2 SHOTS) 1.27 9. MCU (English) FORMER PHILIPPINE FIRST LADY IMELDA MARCOS, SAYING: "It's 416 times that I have done this already. Is that a little exaggeration? Another name for exaggeration is called humiliation. Well, this is the ultimate harassment - 416 cases, and 416 times you have to do all of this." 1.50 10. SLV AIDES/MEDIA IN HALL 1.54 11. MCU (English) MARCOS, SAYING: "I pray for justice, yes, but I do hope that the government will stop this witch hunting." 2.04 12. SV COURT OFFICIALS 2.10 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 31st October 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
  • Country: Philippines
  • Reuters ID: LVAM9XFJFJ6UGFE9QQGK6MZ3XDD
  • Story Text: An anti-graft court has ordered the arrest of former
    Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos on charges of stashing 28
    million U.S. dollars in illegal wealth in Swiss banks.

    But Marcos, the flamboyant 72-year-old widow of late
    dictator Ferdinand Marcos, posted bail to avoid spending time
    in jail.

    She has appeared in court, been fingerprinted and called
    the charges harassment. Her lawyers paid the bond and she left
    the courthouse.



    The Sandiganbayan anti-graft court issued on Tuesday
    (October 16) four arrest warrants against Imelda Marcos in
    connection with four separate charges of maintaining bank
    accounts containing wealth she and her husband allegedly
    amassed illegally during their days in power.

    The cases were among more than 100 criminal and civil
    suits filed by state prosecutors in 1991 and 1992 against the
    Marcos family and associates.

    These cases have languished in courts for a decade,
    stalled on technicalities and outlasted three governments.

    Marcos' lawyers said she would post a bond of 120,000
    pesos (about 2,350 U.S. dollars) -- an amount fixed by the law
    -- so she would not spend a minute in jail.

    And she did. But the once powerful former first lady was
    still required to appear in court to be finger-printed.

    Marcos has denied charges that she and her family amassed
    illegal wealth during her husband's rule, saying the former
    dictator was a wealthy man even before he became president.

    Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines with an iron rod
    for 20 years until he was ousted in a people power revolt in
    1986.

    He and his family fled to Hawaii, where he died three
    years later.

    His widow has refused to bury his chemically preserved
    corpse, keeping it in a glass casket in his northern home
    province of Ilocos Norte, awaiting the rise of a government
    that would allow him to be interred in Manila, the capital.

    Prosecutors in the numerous cases against the Marcoses
    have accused them and their business associates of amassing
    billions of dollars during Marcos's rule. Some estimate the
    amount of Marcos's assets at 13 billion U.S. dollars.

    Switzerland has turned over more than 500 million U.S.

    dollars of Marcos-linked assets to an escrow account in a
    Philippine bank pending a court ruling on who the money
    rightfully belongs to.

    The government, the Marcoses and thousands of victims of
    human rights abuses under the Marcos regime are now battling
    for control of the account.

    The Sandiganbayan court in 1993 convicted Imelda Marcos of
    graft in a separate case and sentenced her to 12 years in
    jail.

    The Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1998 and
    acquitted her.

    Tuesday's arrest orders were the latest twist in the
    colourful saga of the former beauty queen who rose from
    poverty to become the most powerful woman in the impoverished
    country.


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