Friday, September 05, 2008 Ex-First Lady urges graft trial
FORMER First Lady Imelda Marcos is insisting on continuous trial of her 10 graft charges involving her family's alleged ill-gotten wealth.
In a pleading filed by her lawyer before the Sandiganbayan last Thursday, the widow of the late President Ferdinand Marcos complained about the slow pace of her trial.
Filed in the early 1990s, the graft cases remain at trial stage with government presenting its evidence against Mrs. Marcos.
In her eagerness to see her cases resolved soon, Mrs. Marcos suggested ways on how government prosecutors can speed up their presentation of evidence against her.
Mrs. Marcos proposed that the court set two hearing days for her cases on a two-week interval instead of the present schedule of four days a week per two or three months.
She also suggested that all witnesses in the prosecution's lineup be made to submit their sworn affidavits, which can be admitted as their testimony in lieu of their actual appearance in court.
Her lawyer Benjamin Santos merely asked that the defense be given a chance to cross-examine the government witnesses on any point of their affidavit that needs clarification.
Prosecutors alleged that Mrs. Marcos could still be held accountable for establishing private foundations in Switzerland while she was minister of human settlements during her husband's 20-year rule.
Former President Marcos fled the country after a military-backed popular uprising in 1986, and died in exile in Hawaii three years later.
His wife is facing several counts of corruption charges in connection with the Marcos family's Swiss deposits amounting to US$683 million, declared by the Supreme Court (SC) as ill-gotten.
In July 2003, the SC ruled that the Swiss deposits, originally pegged at US$356 million, was government-owned following the Marcoses' failure to justify where the amount came from, as the declared legitimate total earnings of Marcos and his wife were way below the amount. (Sunnex)
