MANILA – A former mayor of a Philippine town who is being investigated for her alleged ties to Chinese criminal syndicates has fled the country, prompting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to order the cancellation of her passport on Aug 20.
Alice Guo, also identified as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, arrived in Malaysia from Indonesia on July 18. She then went to Singapore on July 21, and later travelled to Batam, Indonesia, via a ferry from Singapore, on Aug 18, a spokesman for the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission said, basing the information on immigration records in those countries.
It is unclear on which date she left the Philippines.
The Philippines’ Department of Justice said on Aug 19 that it will investigate how she was able to exit the country, despite an immigration lookout bulletin order that directs the authorities to closely monitor her movements.
But Guo’s lawyer, Mr Stephen David, insisted she is still in the Philippines.
“Thus, without further evidence to prove that she has indeed left the country, our reliance in good faith on the assurances by our client remains,” Mr David said in a statement, without providing details.
Guo is the subject of a Senate arrest warrant for refusing to appear at hearings investigating her alleged ties with Chinese criminal syndicates – a case that has captivated the nation amid tensions between Manila and Beijing.
The investigation began in May after police raided a casino in Guo’s sleepy farming town of Bamban in March, uncovering what the authorities said were scams being perpetrated from a facility built on land partially owned by Guo.
Her bank accounts were frozen over suspected money laundering, human trafficking and fraud.
Guo, who was recently removed from office by the Office of the Ombudsman for grave misconduct, has denied links to criminals, and insisted she is a natural-born Philippine citizen.
She has written to the Senate that she was the subject of “malicious accusations”.
Her case comes at a time of growing Philippine suspicion about China’s activities following an increasingly tense dispute over reefs and shoals in the busy waterway of the South China Sea, where both nations have claims. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66c99950f94549f5adcf90fcf2d494ee&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.straitstimes.com%2Fasia%2Fse-asia%2Fphilippines-says-ex-mayor-alice-guo-who-s-linked-to-money-laundering-seen-in-indonesia&c=8596788743047299734&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-08-20 02:19:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.