Money laundering complaint vs. Alice Guo submitted for resolution

The money laundering complaint filed against former Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo and others has been submitted for resolution, a prosecutor of the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Friday.

“This is the last hearing for the preliminary investigation of the money laundering cases. So everything is submitted for resolution,” Assistant State Prosecutor Charlie Guhit said in an ambush interview.

Following this, the panel of prosecutors will issue a resolution either dismissing the complaint or recommending the filing of charges against the respondents before a court.

In August, authorities filed 87 counts of money laundering against Guo and 35 others over the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hubs in Bamban and Porac, Pampanga.

Other respondents in the complaint are Shiela Guo, the former mayor’s purported sister; Cassandra Li Ong, the authorized representative of the Porac POGO hub; and former Technology and Livelihood Resource Center deputy director general Dennis Cunanan, among others.

Alice Guo, Shiela Guo, and Ong were able to submit their counter-affidavits.

Meanwhile, Guhit said that Cunanan and other respondents did not appear. 

“The consequence of which, the case will be submitted for resolution without their counter-affidavits. We will resolve the case against them based on the complaint and the supporting evidence in support of the complaint,” Guhit said.

For their part, Ong’s camp  sought the dismissal of the complaint in their counter-affidavit. They also denied the allegations against her.

“It’s mostly denials of the allegations against our client Ms. Ong and pointing out flaws in the original complaint,” lawyer Raphael Andrada, Ong’s legal counsel, said in an ambush interview. 

He said that the degree of evidence has been raised from probable cause to prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction.

“Given the higher standard required to sustain the charge in the preliminary investigation. It’s even more so that they should dismiss the case against our client,” Andrada said. 

“Without undermining the good discretion of the honorable panel of prosecutors, we’re of the humble opinion that not all of the elements of the crime that she’s being charged of has been met,” he later added.

Guo, who is also believed to be Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, is also facing a qualified human trafficking case before a Pasig court as well as a graft case before a Valenzuela court.

She earlier pleaded not guilty to graft charges.

A quo warranto petition was also filed against Guo with a Manila court as well as a petition to cancel her birth certificate before a Tarlac court.

She is also facing a tax evasion complaint before the Justice Department.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News