Philippine investigators told detectives about gold scam a month before suspect fled

Philippine investigators warned Hong Kong police about a man claiming to be the son of Ferdinand Marcos and his alleged involvement in a gold trading scam last October - a month before the suspect fled the SAR.

They said fewer people would have fallen victim to the racket had SAR police acted on the information.

The details emerged as officials on two continents attempted to determine the real identity of Edilberto Marcos, wanted by the ICAC and being held in New York over an alleged scam involving gold certificates. He is among those wanted in the SAR in connection with a plot to obtain credit from local and overseas financial institutions using fake US Federal Reserve Notes with a face value of US$148 billion (HK$1,153 billion).

The scam came to light last month after two of his associates allegedly ran up a $1.6 million bill in the Hyatt, then tried to pass off fake US Federal Reserve notes worth US$100 million.

Marcos, who was arrested by the FBI, appeared before a New York court on Monday at a bail hearing, where he was remanded in custody.

Interpol branch agents from the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) told the South China Morning Post a Japanese national had filed a complaint with their office alleging he and his business associates had been defrauded in Hong Kong by Marcos to the tune of US$1 million (HK$7.8 million).

The man alleged he and his group were lured to invest in a project involving the trading of gold between Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines. His complaint - filed on October 11 - was faxed to Interpol in Hong Kong on October 24 with a warning that 'it would be possible that victims would be Hong Kong nationals', said agent Raul Tepace.