THE reward for anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of couples Lorenzo Baltonado Jr. and Jerlyn Joyce and Michelle Lim Go-Chu and Lloyd Lawrence Chu, who are facing charges for large-scale estafa, has been raised from P1.5 million to P5 million.
This was announced by Cebu-based businessman Kaiser Christopher Tan and his legal counsel Francisco Amit Jr. in a media interview on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.
Amit said Go-Chu’s husband, Lloyd Lawrence Chu, was also added in the wanted list after the Regional Trial Court’s (RTC) branch 17 in Cebu City and branch 29 in Toledo City issued warrants for his arrest on August 14, 2023 and May 15, 2023, respectively.
He added that the 18th Division of the Court of Appeals (CA) also dismissed the petition that was pushed by Go-Chu’s camp to render the arrest warrant issued by Toledo City court as invalid.
In their ruling, the CA argued that Go-Chu had 15 days from the time she got the arrest warrant from the court to file a motion for reconsideration or before May 30, 2023, but she instead filed a petition for certiorari on June 22, 2023.
Because of this, Amit urged police in Central Visayas and neighboring regions to find the accused so they can be held accountable for their alleged crimes.
“If their claim that they are being persecuted are true, then they must face the case,” said Amit in Cebuano.
Multiple estafa complaints against Go-Chu and her co-accused Baltonado and his wife Jerlyn Joyce were filed by Tan, owner of Greentech Land Development Corp.
Go-Chu and her co-accused allegedly defrauded Tan of nearly P200 million in investments, the businessman said in his complaint.
Amit believes they have not yet left the country because Bureau of Immigration personnel are keeping an eye on. (AYB, TPT)