MANILA: Disgraced former Philippines president Joseph Estrada said on Thursday he was seeking legal action against a global graft watchdog for including him in a list of the world's most corrupt leaders.

Estrada, pardoned last year shortly after he was jailed for life for plunder, said the list by Transparency International is "without basis or fact".

The list also includes late Indonesian strongman Suharto and former Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

"There was no effort from them to even get in touch with me. I am meeting with my lawyers for a possible legal action," Estrada told AFP. "I am shocked."

Transparency International's list was included in its global corruption report, which aims to show how graft derails development. It has been published locally and is circulating on the Internet.

Estrada insists he built his wealth through hard work.

After starting out as a film star, he used his fame to gain election as a small town mayor, before rising to become senator, vice president and in 1998, president.

However, his six-year term was cut short by a military-backed popular revolt and he left office in disgrace 30 months after taking power.

He was impeached for large-scale corruption, detained and put on trial for six years until he was convicted last year.

But his successor, Gloria Arroyo, pardoned and subsequently freed him on condition that he return some 80 million dollars allegedly built up through illegal gambling kickbacks and funds stolen from excise taxes.

Estrada has repeatedly denied stealing public funds, claiming that millions deposited to secret accounts were not his. The courts have so far recovered more than 200 million pesos (4.92 million dollars) from a charity foundation he had set up, as well as an investment management account worth more than 1.1 billion pesos.

"Those are not mine. They can take those away. But what they can't take are my personal property and belongings," he said. "I earned all of these through hard work. I have just been demonised in the press."

The 70-year-old politician said he would no longer seek public office, but would remain kingmaker for the political opposition, including a role in choosing its candidate in the 2010 presidential election.


- AFP/so