Imelda permitted to travel abroad
Switzerland and the Philippines will sign a treaty to recover ill-gotten money of Ferdinand Marcos and his close associates in Swiss banks, officials said yesterday, even as Marcos' widow Imelda finally won the right to travel abroad.
Switzerland and the Philippines will sign a treaty to recover ill-gotten money of Ferdinand Marcos and his close associates in Swiss banks, officials said yesterday, even as Marcos' widow Imelda finally won the right to travel abroad.
The anti-graft court handling several corruption cases against Imelda, wife of Ferdinand, has allowed the feisty former First Lady to travel to China and Hong Kong for one month to undergo alternative medical treatment.
Robert Sison, Imelda's lawyer told the Sandiganbayan: "Recurring ailments of the accused has prompted her physician, Dr Roberto Anastacio, to suggest her to undergo alternative oriental medicine in China and Hong Kong."
Earlier, the Sandiganbayan allowed Imelda to seek medical treatment abroad after she suffered a skull fracture after she fell inside her bathroom last year. Imelda is expected to leave the country between July 4 and August 4.
Marcos' widow is scheduled to be arraigned at the Sandigan-bayan on July 22 on four counts of graft in connection with maintaining secret bank accounts in Switzerland.
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) meanwhile said a delegation of Swiss officials will arrive in Manila soon to discuss the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the officials of the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs.
Ruben Carranza Jr., PCGG Commissioner for Legal Affairs, said the treaty will be stronger than the International Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters (IMAC).
It was enforced in 1986 to recover millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains believed to have been stashed by the family and close associates of the late dictator Marcos, in hidden deposits in the Swiss banks.
"We are negotiating a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. We have asked the foreign affairs department to give us a copy that may be negotiated to see its implications for the PCGG matters," said Carranza.
Unlike the IMAC; the treaty will involve not only recovery of the Swiss deposits, but the criminal prosecution of the persons keeping ill-gotten wealth in Switzerland. Carranza said the IMAC is based on Swiss laws and cannot easily be enforced without a formal request for recovery assistance.
The two governments have been negotiating on several drafts of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and this is just one aspect of the series of meetings. So far, Manila has recovered $660 million worth of Marcos Swiss deposits. These have been held in escrow at the Philippines National Bank since 1998.
The money will be released to the government once it complies with the two conditions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court's final judgment on Forfeiture Case 0141 and compensation to the 10,000 victims of martial law. They won a $2.35 billion judgment against the Marcos estate in a Honolulu court in 1995.
The government is pursuing the recovery of an additional $21 million Swiss deposits believed to be owned by the relatives and associates of Marcos.
The Marcoses are believed to have stolen billions of pesos during the two decades rule of the late dictator.
