Philippines to probe ‘secret’ Marcos offshore trust after leaks expose rich who hide cash

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Imee Marcos, daughter of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 5:29pm, 4 Apr 2013Updated: 3:01pm, 5 Apr 2016

The Philippine government said on Thursday it planned to investigate an allegation that the eldest daughter of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was the beneficiary of a secret offshore trust.

A report published by the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism alleged Imee Marcos, 57, now a provincial governor, had failed to declare the British Virgin Islands trust as legally required.

The revelation was part of a collaborative leak by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) who began releasing the details of prominent public figures with offshore investments. The group claims it has more than 2m e-mails and other documents exposing the identities of the world's wealthy and elite who are secretly stashing their money.

Andres Bautista, head of a presidential body tasked to recover the billions of dollars the Marcos family stole from government coffers during the patriarch’s 20-year rule, told reporters his office would look into the allegations.

“We are duty bound to investigate and, depending upon informed preliminary findings, decide whether to pursue the matter,” Bautista said.

A popular uprising topped Marcos in 1986, and he died in US exile three years later. His famously extravagant wife, Imelda, has always denied she and her husband were corrupt.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government, which Bautista heads, has recovered US$4 billion in assets that the Marcos illegally acquired, including from Swiss bank accounts and US properties.