Judge asked for an accounting of funds

LOS ANGELES, April 2 (UPI) -- U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real of Los Angeles is being asked to account for $5 million or more in apparently missing trust funds.

A group of Filipino claimants is asking the judge for a detailed accounting of $35.3 million in funds seized in litigation concerning the Philippines late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

The newspaper said at least $5 million of the money that Real has been the trustee over since 2000 is missing.

The money held by Real is being sought by the Manila government, the Philippine National Bank, heirs of a dispossessed private businessman and 9,539 Filipinos who claim to have suffered human rights abuses at the hands of the dictator.

In their petition, lawyers for Merrill Lynch and the Philippine National Bank told the appeals court they needed a full accounting "to determine whether the amount returned to Merrill Lynch properly reflected investment gains or losses" and to learn "for what purpose(s) a substantial portion of the assets apparently were disbursed while in the custody of the district court."

Real, 85, who has been reprimanded by the judicial council of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for misconduct in other matters, has refused to provide details of the trust fund. He has submitted only a half-page list of account activity that leaves unclear how much interest was earned on the funds for nearly a decade.