MOMENTS after being slapped with a six-month preventive suspension, Bamban Mayor Alice Guo is likely to face another whammy – this time for tax evasion complaints to be filed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).
According to PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio, the commission found culpable violations on the businesses which the embattled mayor admitted in previous Senate hearings as hers.
Guo, whose identity remains in question, is under probe over alleged links with the illegal operation of a POGO hub not far from the Bamban municipal town hall where she holds office.
“As far as we are concerned po, may mga nakita kaming violations niya… mga administrative, actually. Mga tax evasion charges kakasuhan po natin siya,” Casio told reporters in an ambush interview.
On top of tax evasion, PAOCC is also looking at the possibility of filing a separate complaint for violating securities regulations code against Guo and corporate executives of Hongsheng Technology Inc. and Zun Yuan Technology Inc.
Based on records, government operatives first raided Hongsheng Technology Inc. inside a 10-hectare Baofu Compound in Bamban, Tarlac sometime in February last year for a long list of cybercrimes.
In March this year, operatives went back to the same exact place and swooped down on Zun Yuan Technology Inc. for human trafficking and cybercrime activities. After the raid, investigators found pieces of evidence dragging the mayor into the illegal POGO operation.
“Maaaring sampahan din po namin siya ng mga violation ng securities regulation code, maging ang mga opisyales nung Hong Sheng, at saka Zun Yuan, Baofu,” the PAOCC mouthpiece added.
He however would not say how much taxes were defrauded – “Pero malaki po. Kita mo naman ang lifestyle ni mayora,” he said.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government earlier filed graft complaints against Guo over her alleged involvement in the POGO hub. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
