SC gives go-ahead for forfeiture of $8-M Marcos Swiss account

MANILA, Philippines – The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) can now start forfeiture proceedings on an $8-million Swiss bank account believed to belong to the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

In a two-page resolution, the Supreme Court has denied the petition of Ignacio Gimenez and his brother-in-law Roberto Olanday to lift the freeze order issued by the Sandiganbayan on the bank account.

“The Court resolves to deny the petition for failure of petitioners to sufficiently show that the Sandiganbayan committed any reversible error in the challenged decision and the resolution as to warrant the exercise of this Court’s discretionary appellate jurisdiction,” read the SC decision.

Gimenez is the husband of Fe Roa-Gimenez, social secretary of Marcos, while Olanday is Gimenez’s brother-in-law.

Gimenez and Olanday are believed to have acted as conduits for Marcos in depositing the amount at the Adler Bank in Zurich, Switzerland under account number 595710.

On Dec. 28, 2006, the Sandiganbayan forfeited in favor of the government the $8-million bank deposit despite the request of the petitioners before the Swiss Federal Court to lift the freeze order.

The anti-graft court gave weight to the evidence presented by the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General that Olanday had acted as the “dummy” for the Gimenez couple when he was assigned as the beneficial owner of the bank deposit.

The deposit was frozen soon after the 1986 EDSA Revolution with the Gimenez couple becoming co-respondents in a string of ill-gotten wealth cases lodged against Marcos and his family.

Earlier, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court had threatened to lift the freeze order on the account should the Sandiganbayan fail to hand down a forfeiture order.

According to the PCGG, the funds were held under the name of GEI, a company registered in Panama.

The Sandiganbayan had discovered that Gimenez had set up Guaranteed Education Inc., a pre-need education plan company, in July 1985.

He owned 96 percent of the firm’s stock, while Olanday was assigned nominal shares.

Not long after, a firm named GEI Inc. was registered in Panama whose directors and officers overlapped with those of Guaranteed Education.

The Swiss bank deposit was “unlawfully acquired by the spouses Gimenez, in conspiracy with Olanday,” the PCGG said.

Associate Justice Teresita de Castro, who had served as presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan, did not participate in the deliberation and voting.