(Nov 20): A Philippine court found a former mayor guilty of qualified human trafficking and sentenced her to life imprisonment over her role in setting up a scam centre, as Southeast Asian governments vow to fight transnational criminal syndicates.
“Alice was convicted and seven others, and it’s life sentence,” deputy state prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas told reporters outside the court hall in the capital on Thursday. Guo, who has been detained in a Manila jail since last year, appeared before the court via video conference.
All convicted individuals were also ordered to pay two million pesos ($44,467) each per case, in addition to monetary reparations owed to their victim-complainants, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said in a statement. There was no immediate reaction from Guo and her lawyers.
The six-billion-peso Baofu property was also forfeited in favour of the government since it was “used to commit human trafficking,” Torrevillas said. Guo helped incorporate Baofu Land Development Inc that owned an eight-hectare (20 acres) complex in Bamban town, north of Manila, before running for mayor in 2022.
Cases against Guo’s Chinese-born business associates, Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying, who were convicted in Singapore’s largest money laundering case, and others who are at large have been archived, the court said. Cases will be revived upon their arrest, it added.
The pair were among the incorporators of Baofu, which hosted a Philippine offshore gaming operator that employed hundreds of foreigners and targeted bettors overseas.
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Employees there complained that they were coerced to carry out investment and love scams and were beaten up or electrocuted when they failed to hit their quotas.
“It’s not just a victory for the government, but a victory for the victims, for the community, and for other countries as well because there were victims who are foreigners,” Benjamin Acorda Jr, head of the anti-organized crime agency, told reporters.
The court’s verdict comes at a time when Southeast Asian leaders have expressed alarm over rising cybercrimes and online scams, perpetrated by transnational criminal rings. Last month, leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations vowed to coordinate in going after criminals and prevent them from using the region as “a shelter and criminal hub.”
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In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in October signed a law banning offshore gaming operators, institutionalising a policy he announced last year that was triggered by Guo’s case.
Thursday’s verdict followed a separate Manila court ruling in June that voided Guo’s mayoral stint because she’s a Chinese national and under Philippine law isn’t allowed to run for public office.
Guo, together with her associates, is also facing money laundering charges for which she has pleaded not guilty. Her counsel had denied accusations by alleged casino kingpin She Zhijiang that Guo was a Chinese government agent. She Zhijiang was handed over to Chinese authorities in Bangkok last week after being detained in a Thai prison.
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