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Money laundering? Billions transferred to Mayor Alice Guo’s bank accounts from 2019 to 2024

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Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/172076157752520240522-guo-alice-senate-MD-13.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo in a Senate hearing in Pasay City on May 22, 2024. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo in a Senate hearing in Pasay City on May 22, 2024. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Billions of pesos were allegedly transferred to the various bank accounts of suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian who cited reports from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/7/11/ca-freezes-assets-of-alice-guo-others-in-illegal-pogos-2051">• CA freezes assets of Alice Guo, others in illegal POGOs</a></div><p>In an interview Friday, Gatchalian said the amounts were wired from 2019 to 2024, the bulk of which came in from 2019 to 2022. A big portion of this was allegedly traced from China.</p><p>A document from  AMLC which was given by Gatchalian to the media showed Guo has 36 bank accounts.</p><p>Gatchalian explained that there is nothing wrong with having several bank accounts but one has to be able to explain the transactions. </p><p>The senator alleged that the flow of money was suspicious because Guo could not justify where her money came from. Also questionable was the fact that her corporations were not earning as supposedly indicated in their income statements. </p><p>Gatchalian said unjustifiable money that came from outside the country is a classic case of money laundering.</p><p>This is why AMLC already filed a case of money laundering against Guo and her alleged accomplices before the Court of Appeals on Wednesday, July 10.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/7/11/hontiveros-reminds-guo-subpoena-must-be-followed-1915">• Hontiveros reminds Guo: Subpoena must be followed</a></div><p> The court subsequently issued a freeze order on the assets of Guo, her business partner and fugitive Huang Zhiyang, and Lin Baoying, a Chinese charged with money laundering in Singapore.</p><p> In a statement, AMLC said these three individuals are suspected of orchestrating human trafficking and fraudulent activities through the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) Zun Yuan and Hongsheng, and through the Baofu Land Development, which are all in Bamban.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/6/13/pogo-paradise-how-the-philippines-became-a-hub-for-illegal-pogos-1524">• POGO Paradise: How the Philippines became a hub for illegal POGOs</a></div><p>Meanwhile, Gatchalian expects the Senate arrest order against Guo to be issued Friday or Monday.</p><p>He insisted that the issue of Guo’s identity has already been settled especially after a high-ranking official of Grace Christian High School, which is now Grace Christian College in Quezon City, confirmed to his office that the Chinese Guo Hua Ping was their former student from 2000 to 2003. Hua Ping and Guo are alleged to be the same person.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/7/11/lawyer-says-he-advised-alice-guo-to-submit-to-senate-custody-2143">• Lawyer says he advised Alice Guo to submit to Senate custody</a></div><p>The Senate is still deciding if they will invite an official of the school to the next hearing.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rpanVmH2kb0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said unjustifiable money that came from outside the country is a classic case of money laundering.</p>

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said unjustifiable money that came from outside the country is a classic case of money laundering.