ART

Attorneys searching the world for riches allegedly stolen from the Philippine people by deposed leader Ferdinand Marcos have announced they have located 16 master artworks they claim were smuggled out of the island nation. The revelation came during a court hearing in one of many lawsuits by the Philippine government in its effort to track down and regain stolen millions that it claims Marcos and his wife gained illegally during their 20-year reign and then stashed abroad when they were overthrown in February, 1986. Ronald Olson, an American attorney hired by the Philippine Presidential Commission on Good Government, said 16 paintings by such artists as El Greco and Rubens had been located in Paris. Olson said the last known holder of the paintings was Adnan Khashoggi, an admitted middleman in the Iran- contra arms deal.