Indonesia wants fugitive ex-mayor in exchange for NRL star’s dad held in Philippines

Indonesian authorities desperate to get their hands on Australian Gregor Haas are using their capture of a woman, whose alleged crimes and life on the run have captivated the Philippines, as leverage in a proposed prisoner deal.

Alice Guo, a former mayor, was arrested at a house near Jakarta in the early hours of Wednesday after fleeing the Philippines weeks ago amid rumours of a mysterious Chinese past and allegations she was involved with an illegal gambling and scam centre. She has denied any wrongdoing.

Alice Guo after her arrest in Indonesia.Credit: Philippines Bureau of Immigration

She had been tracked in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia since failing to turn up at parliamentary hearings into illegal gaming last month, creating sensational fodder for Filipino media and amateur online sleuths who have seized on unproven suggestions of her spying for their enemy, China.

“Let this serve as a warning to those who attempt to evade justice,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Wednesday as he thanked the Indonesian police for their co-operation.

It soon emerged the Indonesians wanted someone in return.

Krishna Murti, chief of the international division of Indonesia’s national police, told local media that he hoped the Philippines would now extradite Haas, who is being held in Manila, to face questioning and courts in Indonesia.

Gregor Johann Haas poses for a mugshot following his May arrest in the Philippines.Credit: AP

Haas, who was arrested in Cebu City in May, is the father of NRL star Payne Haas.

Indonesian police accuse him of links to the notorious Sinaloa Cartel and of sending five kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico to Jakarta inside an intercepted shipment of ceramic tiles in December last year. He has not been convicted of the crime, and it is unclear how he will plead if it ever came to it.

Murti told Indonesia’s detikNews that prisoner exchange efforts were “still being negotiated”.

A spokeswoman for the Philippines Bureau of Immigration said no such discussions had taken place. The state-owned Philippine News Agency, however, reported on Wednesday that the Department of Justice had received the request.

Senior Filipino officials arrived in Jakarta to collect Guo on Thursday morning. If their bosses in Manila were convinced to hand over Haas, it would likely happen at a later date, though there was no evidence yet of a deal.

Authorities in Indonesia have previously given assurances that they will not press for the death penalty if he is successfully extradited, hoping this will free the Philippines from an awkward situation with Australia, which opposes capital punishment, especially for one of its citizens.

Guo is another bargaining chip. Haas’ family want to get him home.

Guo ran as a Filipino candidate in the 2022 elections and won as mayor of the rural town of Bamban, north of Manila. She was accused of helping establish a massive complex with several buildings near the town hall as a hub for an illegal online gambling and scam outfit that catered mostly to clients in China, where gambling is forbidden.

She has also been accused of concealing her Chinese nationality to run for public office, and some senators have suggested she may be working as a Chinese agent.

It has been alleged that her fingerprints matched those of a Chinese national, Guo Hua Ping. With the relationship between China and the Philippines at a low ebb from repeated clashes in the South China Sea, these accusations have been incendiary.

Despite her denials, Guo was dismissed from her mayoral post for grave misconduct by an agency that investigates officials accused of crimes, including graft and corruption.

In July, Marcos ordered an immediate ban on widespread and mostly Chinese-run online gaming operations, accusing them of involvement in human trafficking, torture, kidnappings and murder.

With AP and Reuters

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