After she was found guilty for seven counts of graft former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte 2nd District Rep. Imelda Marcos has no pending criminal cases at the Sandiganbayan.
Official records from the anti-graft court said the 89-year-old Marcos had 10 pending criminal cases before her conviction, including criminal case numbers 17287 to 17291, 19225, and 22867 to 22870. She was acquitted in three.
With the fall of the regime of her late husband, former President Ferdinand Marcos, she faced a total of 28 criminal cases lodged at the Sandiganbayan. These were filed from 1991 to 1995, after she returned to the Philippines from self-exile.
Of the 28 cases, 11 were dismissed, while she was acquitted in eight others — including the last three cases.
Unknown to many, Marcos has already been convicted in two cases, aside from the seven recent counts of graft. However, both Sandiganbayan decisions were overturned by the Supreme Court (SC).
In two criminal cases filed in January 1992, she was found guilty for different anomalous transactions while serving as Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) chair. Both rulings were reversed by the SC.
The recent convictions of Mrs. Marcos stemmed from managing Swiss foundations and transferring funds to its accounts while she was a member of the Batasang Pambansa, governor of Metro Manila, and Minister of Human Settlement in the 1970s.
The seven Swiss foundations — one for each graft count — were identified as Maler, Rayby, Palmy, Azio-Verso-Vibur, Aguamina, Avertina- Xandy-Wintrop-Charis-Scholari-Valamao-Spinus and Banque Paribas-Gladiator-Mabari-Volubries-Cesar-Gardenia.
According to the Sandiganbayan, the Marcos couple created these foundations for their family’s benefit using the aliases William Saunders and Jane Ryan.
Marcos was acquitted in three cases after the anti-graft court ruled that it was her late husband who was behind the anomalies.
After being found guilty of seven counts of graft, Marcos was sentenced by the anti-graft court to serve jail time of from six years and a month to 11 years for each count. She was also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
However, the anti-graft court allowed her to file motions for reconsideration and to post bail as graft is a bailable offense. /muf
READ: Imelda Marcos guilty of graft, ordered arrested
READ: Sandiganbayan: Swiss ‘foundations’ set up to benefit Marcos family