Jacobi fights to get cut in Marcos Swiss money

Australian fortune hunter Reiner Jacobi has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a petition filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in connection with the alleged $13.3 billion Marcos Swiss bank deposits.

In its petition, the PCGG wanted the court to reverse the decision of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to drop a complaint filed by the PCGG against Jacobi for insufficiency of evidence.

Jacobi said the court has no jurisdiction to review the proceedings of a quasi-judicial body such as the DOJ.

Then PCGG chair Magdangal Elma had filed a case of alleged use of falsified documents against Jacobi.

Elma alleged that Jacobi had falsified a letter by another former PCGG chair Felix de Guzman, dated Aug. 27, 1998, that supposedly informed Jacobi that the commission had agreed to award him and his group a 10 percent cut of the Marcos Swiss deposits.

But on March 6, 2001, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño dismissed the complaints against Jacobi.

The PCGG filed an appeal with the DOJ.

In a resolution dated July 27, 2002, the DOJ dismissed the PCGG appeal, prompting the PCGG to elevate the case to the Supreme Court. — Mike Frialde