Banks to discuss Marcos funds

Banks to discuss Marcos funds

ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP): The three sides feuding over hundreds of millions of dollars stashed in Swiss banks by the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos meet next week in Hong Kong in a bid to resolve the dispute.

The talks beginning Monday and scheduled to last five days have been called by the two banks involved, Credit Suisse and Societe de Banque Suisse, whose Marcos accounts holding 500 million Swiss francs (US$435 million) were frozen by a Swiss court nearly ten years ago.

The banks are torn three ways by claims from the Philippines authorities, which claim the money was looted from the state by Marcos during his 20-year reign, victims of torture and other human rights abuse under the Marcos regime, and the dictator's family.

The Hong Kong meeting will be chaired by Chester Crocker, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, who will act as mediator, but Credit Suisse spokesman Andre-Lou Sugar said here it was impossible to predict what the result would be, with U.S., Swiss and Philippines courts all involved.