On
21 December 2001 American businessman, Chase Joseph
Wang TISONI, was found guilty of possessing forged
US Federal Reserve Notes and sentenced to four
years imprisonment. The trial judge, in
delivering his verdict, remarked that the amount
was stunning and apparently higher than Hong Kong's
fiscal assets.
The
case originated from a corruption complaint that
bank managers might have been bribed to allow
the forged Notes to be used to obtain loan facilities.
In
late 1999 TISONI and his boss Edilberto Marcos
MARCOS, who claimed to be the son of the late
Ferdinand Marcos, ex-President of the Philippines,
checked into the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Hong Kong.
They took the presidential suite and one other
room, set up a local company, but by November
2000 they were owing substantial debts to the
hotel. At this time MARCOS left for a trip
to the USA, which TISONI said was so that MARCOS
could attend the inauguration of President George
W. Bush.
In
March 2001 MARCOS had not returned from the USA;
but the investigators could wait no longer and
the hotel rooms and a safe deposit box were searched.
The result, 731 forged Federal Reserve Notes seized
with a face value of US$227,000,000,000.
MARCOS
is in custody in New York awaiting trial, set
down for June 2002, for possession of similar
documents.
Stephen
Sayell
Chief Investigator
Independent Commission Against Corruption
Hong Kong
