The Swiss Supreme Court on Saturday announced it has ordered a Swiss bank to allow investigators to examine the bank account records of former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The court, in a ruling made May 16, denied a request filed by the Credit Suisse in March to bar Swiss investigators from examining the records. The ruling was made to give Swiss judicial authorities the possibility of locating any funds that might have been embezzled by the ousted leader or his family, according to Justice Minstry spokesman Joerg Kistler. The government of Philippine President Corazon Aquino has accused the Marcos family of corruption, fraud, embezzlement and other offenses and has asked Switzerland to help it recover funds deposited in Swiss accounts. But the ruling does not mean that Credit Suisse must return the Marcos fortune to Philippine authorities, Kistler said. He said a request by the Aquino administration for a return of the money was still blocked by appeals and that the accounts have been frozen. The Manila government has estimated that $1 billion of the deposed leader's money was in Swiss banks, most of it in Credit Suisse, but Swiss bankers have said the amount is exaggerated.
