Former First Lady Imelda Marcos was acquitted Monday of 32 counts of dollar salting despite the existence of dollar accounts linked to Marcos foundations in Switzerland.

In a case that has lasted 17 years, Judge Silvino Pampilo of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 26 said the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt despite the existence of dollar accounts linked to Marcos foundations in Switzerland.

Pampilo told DZMM that the prosecution's witnesses were not authorized to testify on the documents presented to the court. Thus, the evidence on the dollar accounts of the Marcos foundations could not be accepted as evidence, he said.

Pampilo said the prosecution also failed to prove the conspiracy in dollar salting, and there was failure to prove dollar salting "beyond reasonable doubt."

In an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel, Marcos said she was ecstatic that more cases against her family have been dismissed.

"First of all, I am so happy and I thank the Lord that the 32 cases have been dismissed by the regional court here in Manila. This will subtract from the 901 cases that were filed against the Marcoses," she said.

"I hope that the rest of these cases will be finished before, while I am still alive so that I will be able to fulfill my dreams for the Filipino people. I am very happy about it not only for myself because the truth of the Marcoses is going to be justice for all and the Filipino people," she added.

Mrs. Marcos has 10 pending criminal cases before the Sandiganbayan, her lawyer Robert Sison said.

After President Ferdinand Marcos fell from power in 1986, authorities in Switzerland froze US$365 million in Swiss banks that were linked to Marcos foundations.

In July 2003, the Philippine Supreme Court  ordered the forfeiture of the Marcos Swiss deposits after it was proven that Mr. and Mrs. Marcos could not have legally accumulated such an amount from their salaries and incomes in the Philippines.

In February 2004, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) remitted the Marcos Swiss deposits, which had ballooned to $624 million due to interest income earned, to the Bureau of Treasury.