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LEGAL
setbacks continue to whack the Presidential Commission
on Good Government’s (PCGG) bid to recover alleged
ill-gotten wealth of the late strongman Ferdinand
Marcos, members of his family and associates: The
Sandiganbayan recently ruled in favor of the estate of
the late Swiss-Filipino industrialist Hans Menzi, from
which the government claimed P201.14 million.
In two
resolutions, the antigraft court’s Fourth Division ruled
that the government, through the PCGG, failed to present
proof that the disputed money was ill-gotten, thus, it
has no right to recover or to claim ownership over it.
The
court then said that the Menzi estate and Hans Menzi
Holdings have the right to recover the money, which was
held in bank deposits for more than two decades.
In 1985
the PCGG claimed that the money from the sale of Manila
Bulletin shares was deposited in Equitable Bank.
The
claim was embodied in a complaint (Civil Case 0022)
filed by the PCGG in 1987, insisting that the money that
was deposited in the form of Philtrust Bank certificates
of time deposit (CTD) 162828 and 162829 was ill-gotten.
The PCGG
further alleged that Menzi was a close business
associate of the Marcoses.
But the
court declared that the 154,476 shares were legitimate
assets belonging to Menzi, citing the lack of rulings
from the Sandiganbayan and the Supreme Court that the
disputed assets were ill-gotten in nature.
“Clearly, plaintiff Republic has no vested rights to
said assets, and to deliver the same to them will be
highly irregular and decidedly unjust,” the graft court
said in its May 22 ruling.
The PCGG
is expected to appeal the case.
As a
result of the antigraft court’s ruling, sheriffs
Reynaldo Melquiades and Albert de la Cruz delivered
Philtrust Bank manager’s checks 03914 and 03013
containing P39,157,519.88 and P161,977,558.29,
respectively, to Hans Menzi Holdings and Management Inc.
The
checks were received in behalf of HMHMI by lawyer Manuel
Montecillo, executor of the Menzi estate.
A sum of
P4,022,781.55 contained in Export and Industry Bank
manager’s check (EIB MC)(220744 also went to the
Sandiganbayan-Judiciary Development Fund.
Another
P2,011,370.78 written on EIB MC 220745 was transferred
to the Sandiganbayan-Special Allowance for Justices and
Judges Fund.
The sums
represent the legal percentage exacted by the court for
the turnover of civil judgments to the winning party. |
