Alice Guo, a fugitive former mayor in the Philippines accused of having links to Chinese criminal syndicates, has been arrested in Indonesia, according to Manila’s justice ministry.
Guo, the former mayor of Bamban in Tarlac province, was thrust into the spotlight after investigators raided an online casino’s sprawling compound in the town in March, finding evidence of financial scams and victims of human trafficking, as well as luxury villas and underground tunnels.
Investigators and senators looking into the issue have alleged that Guo was linked to the activities, and that she was not a Philippine national, but in fact Chinese.
The investigation into the mayor and questions over her true identity have come at a time of increased tensions between China and the Philippines, and have gripped the country. One senator investigating the issue has asked whether Guo was in fact a Chinese spy.
Guo was arrested on Tuesday night at a hotel in the city of Tangerang in Indonesia, and is now in the custody of the Indonesian authorities. It is unclear when she will be extradited to the Philippines.
Guo has denied wrongdoing, saying she is facing “malicious accusations”. She has previously said that she is a Philippine national who was born as the “love child” of a Chinese man and his wife’s helper, who was a Filipina, and that she was raised on a pig farm in Bamban.
The senate issued an arrest warrant for Guo in July, after she failed to appear at a hearing investigating criminal activities in her town.
No other arrest warrants have been issued by the courts. However, the Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council recently filed several charges of money laundering against Guo and 35 others before the department of justice, accusing them of laundering more than 100m pesos (£1.3m). The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission has also filed qualified human trafficking charges, now under consideration by the office of the prosecutor.
Guo allegedly fled the country in July, travelling to Malaysia and Singapore, then Indonesia in August using her Philippine passport, the national anti-crime agency has said.
Her lawyer has previously said she had been traumatised by the experience of giving evidence before the senate. She was widely mocked online for what many considered her inability to answer basic questions about her childhood.
During hearings, she was questioned about her birth certificate, which was not registered until she was 17 and displayed contradictory information compared with those of her siblings. Records found by a senator also seemed to contradict her claims about where she was educated.
Guo was also questioned about her wealth and business activities. She admitted that he had owned a pink and black striped helicopter, which she said had been bought for an air taxi business, but denied owning a McLaren 620R sports car she had entered into a car show, saying it was borrowed from a friend.
The election commission later said the fingerprints on her election records matched those of a Chinese citizen.
The Philippines’ president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, last month said that a full-scale investigation into how Guo was able to have fled the country was under way, and that “those responsible will be suspended and will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law”.