MANILA – The Supreme Court affirmed the acquittal of former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte representative Imelda Marcos for dollar salting, or illegally stowing away millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts.
In a decision penned by SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the High Court upheld the legality of a decision released by a Manila City Regional Trial Court (RTC) in 2008 to acquit Marcos on 32 dollar salting cases.
Manila RTC Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr., in his 2008 verdict, said the government failed to prove that Marcos and a deceased associate conspired not to report dollar earnings from foreign bank accounts.
“The apathetic prosecution could have done better in this case. Sadly, it failed,” Leonen said. “The prosecutors must not only be courageous but must also show their dedication to public interest through their competence.”
“Fatal errors that should have been avoided by veteran litigators, such as a habit of postponements and a lack of preparation, cannot be papered over by a labyrinth of appeals that reaches this Court,” he added.
Dollar salting is committed when dollars are removed from the Philippines without approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and transferred to an account outside the county.
Based on the case records, the late solicitor general Francisco Chavez had sought the inhibition of Pampilo from further proceeding with the cases against Marcos for alleged bias.
When Pampilo rejected Chavez’s motion, the latter elevated the issue before the Court of Appeals (CA) which issued an injunction that stopped the proceedings.
Later, the CA denied Chavez’s petition in a decision dated Feb. 28, 2008.
Following the denial of the petition, Chavez filed a motion to reconsider the decision and to nullify the RTC decision that acquitted Marcos of the dollar salting charges since the acquittal was in violation of the CA’s injunction.
In November 2008, the CA denied the motion for reconsideration and the plea for the nullification of the acquittal decision since it was not covered in the original petition filed by Chavez on Pampilo’s inhibition./PN
