THE office of arrested Chinese national Shouqi Zhao, one of the owners of the resort in Barangay Agus, Lapu-Lapu City, where a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) hub was operated, has been searched by authorities more than one month since it was raided.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) served a search warrant at Tourist Garden Hotel on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024.
Zhao was the president of the Tourist Garden Hotel and was one of the 169 arrested foreign nationals when the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc), along with other government agencies, raided the establishment on Aug. 31.
Zhao was also the president of the Lapu-Lapu Chinese Guild that donated computers and internet access to the Lapu-Lapu City Government in 2019.
“Evidence”
NBI Cebu District Office agent-in-charge Arnel Pura, in an interview with SunStar Cebu on Wednesday, said that at least seven vaults and business documents were initially seized in Zhao’s office.
The documents found in his office included Bureau of Internal Revenue payments, Bureau of Immigration payments, tax income returns of the companies, bills and utilities, among others.
“All the evidence subject to the search warrant will be forwarded to the court. These documents will be used to strengthen the case of qualified trafficking in persons and our developing money laundering case,” said Pura.
Operatives from NBI, along with the Anti-Money Laundering Council, searched Zhao’s room situated on the second floor in the hotel with two adjoining offices to recover “important evidence.”
The search warrant was approved on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
Two search warrants were issued on Sept. 5 in two selected establishments inside the hotel and resort, where three Indonesian passports and over 200 mobile phones were recovered from the vaults.
There are 13 buildings operating inside the hotel and resort.
Next move
Pura said that a motion will be filed to open the additional vaults and documents recovered on Wednesday to get more evidence and valuables inside that will link to the cases filed against the 16 foreign nationals and lone Filipino, Zandrew Cantarona.
“The Pogo is established and we are continuing our efforts in building up the money laundering case and at the same time the qualified trafficking in persons will further strengthen the case against the group of Mr. Zhao,” said Pura.
The 169 foreign nationals consisting of Chinese, Indonesians and Burmese nationals are currently detained at the Paoccin Pasay City. / DPC