NATION : Imelda’s ‘Personal Piggy Bank’
The prosecutor in the racketeering trial of former Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos said today the former beauty queen plundered her country and used its main bank as a “personal piggy bank.”
In opening statements in the trial, Assistant U.S. Atty. Debra Livingston said the case involves $140 million of stolen money illegally brought to the United States to buy four Manhattan buildings.
“This is a case of theft, fraud and deceit on an incredible scale,” Livingston told a packed U.S. District Court.
Livingston said Marcos, whose late husband, Ferdinand, ruled the Philippines before being ousted in a popular revolution, used the New York branch of the Philippine National Bank as “her own personal piggy bank. She cracked it open and had bundles of cash delivered to her so that she could buy artworks and jewels.”
Marcos, dressed in black, clutched a rosary to her bosom and at times looked near tears as the prosecutor outlined the case against her.
Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi also is charged in the case.
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