Imelda Marcos US$200m graft case dismissed by Philippine Supreme Court
MANILA: The Philippine Supreme Court tossed out a graft case against former first lady Imelda Marcos that had languished in the courts for years, documents released on Wednesday show.
The Philippine Supreme Court has dismissed a corruption case against the former First Lady Imelda Marcos, according to documents released on Wednesday. The case, which had been pending for years, involved allegations that the Marcoses misappropriated approximately US$200 million through Swiss foundations during Ferdinand Marcos' rule in the 1970s.
Marcos, 97, left the country in 1986, while her husband, the former dictator, was living in exile. After Ferdinand Marcos' death in 1989, the family's ties to the Philippines were reestablished, allowing Imelda to reunite with her son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who became President in 2022. The 2018 verdict from the anti-graft Sandiganbayan court had sentenced her to at least six years in prison.
However, the Supreme Court recently ruled that the case was dismissed, citing the lack of proper authentication from the Swiss documents and the absence of credible witnesses to vouch for their authenticity. This dismissal is not the first reversal of a case involving Imelda Marcos; in 1993, the court overturned a 24-year jail sentence on similar charges.
Her family's reputation traces back to Ferdinand Marcos' declaration of martial law in 1972, which led to the suspension of democracy, the suppression of the media, and the imprisonment or murder of political opponents. Since Marcos' removal from power, efforts to recover the stolen funds have been inconsistent and slow.
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