Swiss free $17-M of FM nephew

BERN (AFP) – A state attorney said yesterday Swiss authorities had unblocked $17 million in frozen accounts of relatives of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

Zurich attorney Dieter Jann confirmed a report appearing in the Thursday edition of the Swiss newspaper Weltwoche saying the sum had been released in June.

The official said the money, originally frozen on suspicion of corruption, had been registered in the name of Marcos’ nephew, former energy minister Geronimo Velasco, who had also acted as the late dictator’s secretary.

"There was no legal basis on which to continue blocking the account," said Jann.

Philippine authorities had not made use of the avenues at their disposal to challenge the release of the money, he noted.

The same attorney last year authorized the release of $13 million belonging to businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr.

The Swiss government froze the assets in 1986, one month after the overthrow of Marcos.

The Marcos family and the government have been in a legal struggle over some $659.7 million in Swiss bank funds allegedly accumulated by Marcos.

In 1998, Swiss authorities released $670 million, which were then frozen on a Manila account.

A further $10 million in the names of members of the Marcos family remains frozen in Swiss accounts.

The Filipino government is understood to have so far recovered only $2 billion of the estimated fortune amassed by Marcos of between $5 billion and $10 billion.

The delay has been ascribed to corruption in the Philippines and the incompetence of the body given the task.

Marcos and his allies are believed to have plundered some $10 billion from state coffers before he was toppled in a popular revolt in 1986.

He fled to Hawaii after the revolt and died in exile in September 1989 but his family has been allowed to return to the Philippines.