'Son of Marcos' gets four years' jail for $702b fraud attempt

A Filipino man claiming to be a son of late president Ferdinand Marcos urged a judge to consider Hong Kong's relationship with the Philippines before she sentenced him yesterday over an attempted US$90 billion (HK$702 billion) fraud.

Tiburcio Villamor Tan Marcos, 53, was jailed for four years after being found guilty in the District Court on February 22 of two counts of copying a false instrument, one of using a false instrument and one of breaching his condition of stay. He denied all the charges on January 29.

The court heard Marcos told two men - Karsten Kenntoff and Georg Lipp, who were not charged - to arrange a meeting with the HSBC chairman in March last year to seek the withdrawal of US$90 billion from a 'secret account'.

A set of documents, including an insurance certificate with a face value of US$54 billion and a custodial safekeeping receipt for US$36 billion, had been faxed to HSBC, but bank staff told the court the documents were fake.

Marcos arrived in Hong Kong on February 19 last year and was allowed to stay until March 19. He was arrested at the Guangdong Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui on March 31.

The judge had adjourned sentencing until yesterday for a psychiatric report, which found Marcos free from any mental illness.