Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors gave dismissed mayor Alice L. Guo of Bamban, Tarlac and 35 other respondents until Oct. 25 to file their counter-affidavits on 87 charges of money laundering.
Guo did not appear during the start of the preliminary investigation on Friday, Oct. 4, at the DOJ.
Her lawyer Stephen David told journalists Guo failed to attend because "hindi nakarating ‘yung order sa proper authorities (the order did not reach the proposer authorities).”
Guo has been detained at the Pasig City Jail Female Dormitory on orders of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 167 where she faces a non-bailable qualified trafficking in persons case.
“‘Di sya mailalabas kung walang order so inayos natin ‘yon para sa next hearing makaka attend s’ya (Guo can’t get out if there is no order so we are working on this to allow her to attend the next hearing),” David explained.
On the filing of counter-affidavit, David said: “Makakafile pero ginagawa pa namin. Kakareceive lang namin ng mga dokumento (We will be able to file but we are currently preparing it. We just received the documents on the complaint)."
Last Aug. 30, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) filed the complaint against Guo and 35 other person for 87 counts of money laundering involving around P100 million worth of transactions.
After preliminary investigation, the DOJ filed the case before the Pasig City RTC. Guo pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The complaint arose from the operations of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) Zun YuanZun Yuan Technology, Inc. located in the Baofu Land Development, Inc. compound in Bamban that was raided by authorities for its involvement in alleged criminal activities.
“The instant case involves corporations that tried to conceal the true nature of their businesses and to make it appear that they are engaged in legitimate activities,” the complaint stated.
It also said that the money laundering charge involves “disguising financial assets so they can be used without detection of the illegal activity that produced them.”
“Through money laundering, the criminal transforms the monetary proceeds derived from criminal activity into funds with an apparently legal source,” the complaint added.