Manila: Indonesia arrests fugitive ex-mayor from Philippines – ThePrint –

By Mikhail Flores and Neil Jerome Morales
MANILA (Reuters) – Indonesia has arrested a fugitive former mayor from the Philippines on suspicion of links to Chinese crime syndicates and money laundering worth more than 100 million pesos ($1.8 million), authorities in Manila said on Wednesday.

Alice Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, is wanted by the Philippine Senate for refusing to appear before a congressional investigation into her alleged criminal ties.

“Our colleagues at the Immigration Department … have confirmed that Ms. Guo is currently in the custody of the Indonesian police,” the Philippine Department of Justice said in a statement.

The case comes at a time when suspicion of China's activities is growing in the Philippines and disputes over the two countries' claims to the busy waterway in the South China Sea are escalating.

Guo was arrested early Wednesday in Tangerang City, the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, Manila's immigration authority and the anti-crime commission said in separate statements.

“The arm of the law is long and will reach you,” said Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., warning that attempts to evade justice would prove futile.

“The close cooperation between our two governments has made this arrest possible,” he added in a statement. “We are already making final preparations for Alice Guo's return.”

After her return, Guo, who had cut her hair short to disguise herself, will be handed over to law enforcement authorities and then to the Senate, Jaime Santiago, director of the National Investigation Bureau, said at a press conference.

Guo's lawyer, Stephen David, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Philippine law enforcement agencies, including the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), jointly filed multiple money laundering charges against Guo and 35 others with the Department of Justice last month.

They accused Guo and her co-conspirators of laundering more than 100 million pesos ($1.8 million) worth of criminal proceeds.

When Guo ran for office, she claimed to be a Filipino citizen, but it was later discovered that her fingerprints matched those of Chinese citizen Guo Hua Ping.

Guo was dismissed from her post as mayor of Bamban town in Tarlac province and fled the country in July. Using her Philippine passport, she travelled to neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore before travelling to Indonesia in August, the anti-crime agency said.

The Senate launched an investigation in May after a raid on a casino in Bamban in March uncovered fraud, according to law enforcement officials, carried out from a facility built on land it partly owned.

(1 USD = 56.50 Philippine Pesos)

(Reporting by Mikhail Flores and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by John Mair and Clarence Fernandez)

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