Byline: EDMER F. PANESA

The Sandiganbayan First Division declared yesterday as "ill-gotten" and forfeited in favor of the Philippine government the more than $ 8-million Swiss deposits of Marcos crony, Fe Roa Gimenez, and her husband, Ignacio.

In a 26-page decision penned by

Presiding Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro and concurred in by Associate Justices Diosdado M. Peralta and Efren N. De la Cruz, the anti-graft court held the money contained in an account at Adler Bank in Zurich, Switzerland in the name of Panamanian firm, G.E.I. Inc., as "ill-gotten wealth" of the Gimenez couple.

Gimenez was a Malacanang social secretary who worked directly under the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos and former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos.

The money is estimated at around $ 8 million or roughly P392 million.

The ruling fully complied with the condition set by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court that threatened to revoke a free order on the subject bank deposits unless the Philippine government is able to secure a favorable ruling from the Sandiganbayan by Dec. 31, 2006.

If the freeze order is lifted, the Gimenezes will be able to withdraw the funds and close the bank account, which will thwart recovery efforts even if the government eventually wins in local courts.

Commissioner Nicasio Conti of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said the Sandiganbayan decision will be transmitted "electronically" to the Philippine embassy in Zurich today to ensure that the government will beat the Swiss High Court's deadline.

He said the embassy will certify the electronic copy of the ruling as "official" to enable PCGG special counsel Sergio Salvioni to make representations with the Swiss court.

"This is a very welcome development and an attestation to the commission's unrelenting effort to fulfill our mandate which is to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family and their cronies," Conti said.

Court records showed that in July, 1985, Ignacio Gimenez created Guaranteed Education, Inc., a company selling pre-need educational plans, with a declared authorized stock capitalization of P10 million.

He personally subscribed to 96 percent of the total G.E.I. shares while the rest of the incorporators, including his half- brother, Roberto B. Olanday, held nominal shares worth P100 each.

On July 13, 1986, another entity was registered in Panama as 'GEI Inc.' with Olanday as one of the first directors and officers.

When the Marcos government was ousted in February 1986, Ignacio Gimenez went to Hong Kong and opened Account No. 02-004208-02 with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) through its branch in Zurich.

On March 24, 1986, he went to Los Angeles, California and had his name changed to "Johnny Salvador Lee".

Just eight days later, the board of directors of Panama-based G.E.I., Inc. issued a resolution for the opening of a second bank account in its name in HSBC-Zurich identified as Deposit Account No. 02003747.

In the same resolution, Olanday and Johnny Salvador Lee were given exclusive authority to represent the company in any transactions with the bank.

Also on the same day, Gimenez directed HSBC to transfer all his deposits in his first account to the G.E.I., Inc. account. The transfer was completed on April 24, 1986.

After this, for over a decade, documents obtained by the PCGG and submitted to the Sandiganbayan showed no significant movement or transaction pertaining to the G.E.I., Inc. bank account.

On Feb. 6, 1997, the board of directors of G.E.I., Inc., issued a resolution to close the company's HSBC account.

On April 15, 1997, G.E.I., Inc. opened Account No. 595710 with Adler Bank with Olanday listed as the beneficial owner.

As of Sept. 30, 1997, the PCGG verified that the bank account contained deposits of US$ 3.202 million and 3.094 million in deutsch mark.

The commission said the deposits has since grown and is now more than US$ 8 million.

In its decision, the Sandiganbayan ruled that "the creation and dissolution of corporations, the use of pseudonym, the series of transactions or transfers of funds which eventually reached the hands of Roberto B. Olanday as owner without the respondents having been able to state the substance of their defense .... all constitute a pattern that has been considered as a scheme to hide ill-gotten wealth ... which will warrant the forfeiture of the said wealth in favor of the State."