Marcos, Wife Give Evidence at FBI Office

Former Philippine ruler Ferdinand E. Marcos and his wife went to an FBI office here Saturday to submit more of the handwriting samples and fingerprints subpoenaed as evidence by the grand jury that indicted them on fraud charges.

Marcos, his wife Imelda and an entourage of attorneys, doctors, nurses and other aides arrived in three cars at the federal office building in Honolulu. The Marcoses, riding in a station wagon, were driven past reporters into the parking garage of the building.

The couple spent more than three hours in the FBI office Friday, with Marcos showing up seated in a wheelchair and wearing a neck brace.

The FBI and attorneys for Marcos, 71, decided to extend the process of submitting the evidence over more than one session because of the deposed president’s frail health.

The taking of the detailed evidence is a “lengthy process,” said Ralph Gerardi, special agent in charge of the FBI office here.

During the initial session Friday, some handwriting samples were submitted, but fingerprints, palm prints and voice samples had yet to be taken, said Richard Hibey, an attorney for the Marcoses. The Marcoses were totally cooperative, he said.

The subpoenas also require Marcos to sign several blank forms authorizing several foreign financial institutions to give federal investigators records of the Marcoses’ transactions.

The Marcoses had refused to answer the subpoenas, but they agreed to submit after the Supreme Court upheld a contempt of court citation ordering them to comply.

The grand jury that issued the subpoenas indicted the Marcoses, five co-defendants and a Los Angeles bank Oct. 21 on federal fraud charges, accusing them of plundering the Philippine treasury of millions of dollars.

Imelda Marcos, 59, traveled to New York and pleaded innocent to the charges on Oct. 31. She is free on $5-million bond posted by her friend, reclusive tobacco heiress Doris Duke.