Billions of 'unjustified' money entered Alice Guo's bank accounts, Gatchalian says

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday disclosed that billions of supposed "unjustified" money went into the bank accounts of suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo from 2019 to 2022.

This information came a day after the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) announced that the Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the freezing of the bank accounts and personal assets of Guo and two other individuals who were allegedly involved in the illegal activities in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO).

According to Gatchalian among those ordered frozen by CA were Guo's 36 bank accounts, 12 land holdings, 12 motor vehicles, and one helicopter.

"Binigay nila (AMLC) sa amin 'yung amounts at malaking amounts talaga. We're talking about billions in a span of three years. Billions 'yung pumasok sa accounts ni Alice Guo pero if you look at the corporations-- kaya nga binabalikan natin during the (Senate) hearing 'yung corporations--- both the income statements and the statements of cash flow, walang billions puro hundreds of thousands lang," Gatchalian said in a virtual interview on Friday.

(AMLC gave us the amounts and they were big amounts. We're talking about billions in a span of three years. Billions went into Alice Guo's accounts but if you look at the corporations both the income statements and the statements of cash flow it was only hundreds of thousands.)

Gatchalian said the AMLC report on Guo's assets is important because it shows details on the origin of the money and where it was transferred.

The senator, however, refused to divulge the details, saying this will be disclosed by AMLC in the next hearings. But he did say that "a big portion" of the money transferred to Guo's account came from China.

"Dito makikita na ang pera na nanggagaling sa iba't-ibang lugar pumapasok sa account ni Alice Guo in the amounts of billions tapos lumalabas 'to sa iba't-ibang individuals at corporations, particularly dito sa pagpapatayo ng POGO hub sa Bamban," he said.

(Here it can be seen that the money that comes from various places goes into Alice Guo's account in the amounts of billions and then goes out to various individuals and corporations, particularly here in the construction of the POGO hub in Bamban.)

GMA News Online sought the comment of Guo's legal counsel, Stephen David, but he has yet to respond as of posting time.

'Suspicious transactions'

Gatchalian explained that the freezing of Guo's assets and accounts means that the mayor cannot justify where her money came from.

"They found out na talagang suspicious ang transactions at mataas ang probability nito na money laundering ang nangyari kaya na freeze agad ang asset," he said.

(They found out that the transactions are really suspicious and there is a high probability of money laundering. That's why the assets were immediately frozen.)

Gatchalian, meanwhile, asked why these transactions were not reported by the local banks to AMLC.

"It's worth noting na bakit ngayon lang lumabas ito? If you look at the timeline, 2019 pa na malaki yung transaction... In a span of three years almost billions yung pumasok sa account niya bakit hindi na-report ng bangko?" he asked.

(Why did it only came out now? If you look at the timeline, the billions of transactions occurred in a span of three years, why didn't the bank report it?)

He then suspected a possible connivance with the local banks.

"Ang suspetya ko dito, meron ding pagkukulang 'yung bangko. Baka 'yung mga bangko, lalo na 'yung mga branches, meron ring kuntsaba na nangyari at di ni-report agad sa AMLC," the senator said.

(The bank may be at fault also. There may have been a connivance; that's why they did not report it to AMLC.)

Senate probe

Guo, who is currently suspended from her post, has been the subject of a Senate probe on her alleged link to the POGO activities in her town.

Senators have also questioned her identity following inconsistencies with her answers regarding her nationality and personal life.

A Senate panel on Wednesday ordered the issuance of an arrest order against Guo for failing to show up in the probe on the raided POGO hub in Bamban.

Her camp has asked the Supreme Court to annul and set aside the subpoena issued against her in connection with the Senate investigation.

In the petition, Guo argued that the Senate panel committed grave abuse of discretion, alleging that it continuously violated her constitutional rights and right to due process.

“The committee is immersed in their idea and conclusion that Petitioner is someone they imagined her to be, i.e a spy and criminal, and that anything she says is already part of the grandeur script to hide her true identity,” the petition read.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News