Run away former mayor of the Philippines is accused of money laundering as she makes her way to Malaysia and Singapore
By Shantini Mogan
31 AUGUST:Authorities in the Philippines have levied multiple charges of money laundering against a former town mayor who is on the run and is allegedly connected to Chinese criminal organizations.
The Senate is looking for Alice Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, since she refused to appear at hearings regarding her suspected criminal connections.
She has refuted the charges, stating that she is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines who is the target of “malicious accusations.”Guo and 35 other people were the targets of various money laundering charges brought by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, and the National Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice.
“These individuals… are accused of being involved in an intricate money laundering scheme connected to qualified human trafficking, estafa (or fraudulent acts), and Securities Regulation Code violations,” the AMLC stated in a statement.
The council said that Guo and her accomplices had laundered over 100 million pesos (RM7.7 million) in earnings from illicit activities. The council also requested the forfeiture of assets worth six billion pesos, which Guo and her friends allegedly acquired through illicit means, including real estate, expensive cars, and a helicopter.
Requests for response made outside of business hours on Friday evening were not immediately answered by the attorneys of Alice Guo and Sheila Guo, another respondent.
The Senate launched an investigation into Guo’s actions in May after authorities raided a casino in her sleepy farming town of Bamban in March and found evidence of what they claimed were scams being carried out from a facility built on land partially owned by the former mayor.
Guo was recently removed from office by the local government ombudsman, and she has since fled the country, using her Philippine passport to travel to Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia this month, according to the Philippine anti-crime agency.
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