MANILA — A Philippine court found former first lady Imelda Marcos guilty of graft and ordered her arrest Friday in a rare conviction among many corruption cases that she’s likely to appeal to avoid jail and losing her seat in Congress.
The special anti-graft Sandiganbayan court sentenced Marcos, 89, to serve 6 to 11 years in prison for each of the seven counts of violating an anti-corruption law when she illegally funneled about USD$200 million to Swiss foundations in the 1970s.
Neither Marcos nor anyone representing her attended Friday’s court hearing and no one issued any reaction on her behalf.
The court disqualified Marcos from holding public office, but she can remain a member of the powerful House of Representatives while appealing the decision.
Imelda Marcos’s husband, former President Ferdinand Marcos, was ousted by an army-backed “people power” revolt in 1986. He died in 1989.
