Breakthrough seen in wealth probe

The lawyer of Australian bounty hunter Reiner Jacobi submitted to the Senate yesterday documents purporting to confirm the existence of a $13.2 billion bank account of Irene Marcos-Araneta in Liechtenstein, a tiny European principality between Switzerland and Austria.

Lawyer David Chaikin said the document which he claimed came from the German Federal Intelligence Service had established the existence of the bank account.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, who heads the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, hailed the documents as a "breakthrough" in their efforts to trace and determine the "hidden wealth" of the family of deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Pimentel said Chaikin's testimony provided his panel with the paper trail needed in pursuing the elusive Marcos wealth.

"On that basis, we probably will move forward by asking German authorities to help us supply the missing documentary links," he said.

The senator, however, noted that it was still premature to summon Araneta to a Senate hearing as they still lacked enough evidence that would link her directly to the account.

Chaikin's documents identified at least five persons allegedly acting as financial and legal advisers to the Marcoses in Liechtenstein. These persons -- identified as Herbert Batliner, Engelbert Schreiber, Peter G. Frommelt, Eugen Heeb and Rufolf Ritter -- are also reportedly working for several international syndicates, including drug cartels in South America and crime rings in Russia.

The documents said Batliner was even involved in laundering the money of drug baron Pablo Escobar and the Medellin and Cali cartels through the Verwaltungs und Privatbank AG in Germany.

He also reportedly handled the transfer of wealth of former dictator Mobuto from Zaire to Europe.

And the documents identified Araneta as among the clients of Schreiber and Frommelt who had previously been arrested for money laundering.

Aside from Verwaltungs bank, the Liechtensteinisch Landesbank was also used by the Schreiber and Frommelt. And aside from Araneta, other clients of the two included the Mexican drug syndicate Juarez Cartel and the Cuntrera-Caruana-Caldarella group, which is associated with the Cosa Nostra.

Chalkin said a more detailed report was now being kept by German authorities.

"It is not up to the Senate Blue Ribbon to finalize the recovery process by making a request to the German government to release the documentation underlying its intelligence service reports," he said.

The latest report was only finalized in Germany this February, he said.

Pimentel said proper representations would be made to secure a copy of the latest German intelligence report.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), meanwhile, said it had known of the German report even before it was revealed by Jacobi's lawyer.

PCGG head Magdangal Elma said communications with proper officials in Switzerland and Liechtenstein must be made before the existence of the alleged Araneta account can be established.