Former Philippine City Mayor Flees to Jakarta to Avoid Being Arrested, Batam City Immigration Says
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27 August 2024 08:06 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Alice Guo, a former mayor of Bamban, a city in the northern part of the Philippines who turned fugitive and left her own country following a graft case, is believed to have come to Jakarta, according to Riau Islands' Batam City Immigration Office.
"Jakarta's immigration office team and representatives of the Philippines immigration agency are now searching for her whereabouts," Batam Immigration Office head Samuel Toba informed at a press conference on Monday, August 26, 2024.
Early in August 2024, Guo was dismissed from the mayorship of Bamban, a city in the northern part of the Philippines, following a probe into her involvement in suspected graft and an illegal online gambling scheme, locally known as Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator.
Her Filipino citizenship also came under scrutiny, and she became the subject of another investigation due to inconsistencies between her documents and testimonies.
However, she reportedly escaped to Indonesia just before the Philippines authorities issued an arrest warrant for her and her three companions on July 19, 2024.
WG, Alice's relative who is also on the wanted list, escaped from Batam and is now believed to be in Hong Kong, as per the Philippines immigration authorities, Toba said.
Meanwhile, Batam Immigration officers arrested two persons on the wanted list, identified with the initials SG, 40, and KO, 24, before they escaped to Malaysia through Batam Center International Port.
The two individuals have since been handed over to the Philippine authorities, Toba said.
Batam Immigration revealed that a Singaporean, identified with the initials 'ZJ', was suspected of assisting the four fugitives in their escape to Batam. ZJ also helped reserve hotel rooms for them, he added.
"However, the Singaporean is no longer in Indonesia," he added.
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