THE Arroyo government in 2006 received information about several foreign bank deposits and other assets of the family and associates of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos amounting to $3 trillion.
In his 95-page pre-trial brief submitted last April 5 to the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division, former Presidential Commission on Good Government chair Camilo L. Sabio said foreign lawyers who have been working with the PCGG’s recovery efforts for over two decades confirmed parts of this information.
The allegation was apparently made to justify Sabio’s use of remittances of sequestered firms for intelligence gathering, for which little or no accounting is made.
Sabio is facing graft and malversation charges for allegedly pocketing P10.35 million cash advances from remittances of sequestered firms. He has said that since 2005 he had been deprived of intelligence funds by the Arroyo administration.
He said information on the Marcos wealth first came through a letter dated February 13, 2006 coursed through the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York from Richard D. Francisco-Arnold of Greenwich, Connecticut.
In his letter, Arnold claimed association with the British Secret Service and the Vatican. He likewise expressed readiness to provide details about 16 bank accounts located in Zurich, Switzerland holding approximately $950 billion.
Sabio said Arnold was ready to provide additional information on other bank deposits and gold cache held “in banks and bullion warehouses” but only if efforts to go after the 16 Swiss deposits are underway.
“From other sources, we have learned that, in addition to Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the United States, ill-gotten wealth are also located in Austria, Canada, Germany and Great Britain… even in Hong Kong. For recovery discovered during the accused’s watch were ill-gotten wealth located abroad worth three trillion US dollars as of 2006,” Sabio said.
To verify Arnold’s disclosure, Sabio said officials of the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General held several meetings with long-time Philippine legal consultants, Dr. Sergio Salvioni and Dr. Heinz Frommelt. Savioni is a former member of the Swiss Parliament while Frommelt once served as Minister of Justice.
“They informed us that, on the basis of voluminous documents in their possession,…there are in fact ill gotten wealth in various countries abroad easily worth billions and billions of US dollars. Stephen V. Bomse of Heller Ehrman LLP,… our US lawyer for more than 15 years, in a memorandum to PCGG dated 1 September 2008, had expressed a similar view,” Sabio pointed out.
Sabio said he held several meetings with Arnold including twice in the US before Philippine Consulate officials in New York.
A meeting between Arnold and PCGG lawyers in Switzerland was proposed but the informant declined for fear of arrest by Swiss authorities. This paved the way for another meet to be arranged in London.
At the London meeting in October 2006, Arnold again failed to turn up but sent a representative instead, citing security concerns.
Sabio said in fact, the reason was that PCGG refused “to his proposals (because) to do so would force us to betray our mandate.” He did not elaborate. – Peter Tabingo
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