MANILA, Nov 20:

A Philippine court convicted a former mayor, who officials say is a Chinese national, of human trafficking charges for helping establish an illegal online gaming complex in a northern province where hundreds of Chinese and other foreign nationals were forced to conduct scams.

The Pasig City regional trial court in metropolitan Manila sentenced Alice Guo to life in prison with seven other Filipino and Chinese co-accused, and ordered them to pay a fine of 2 million pesos (USD 34,000) each and compensate several trafficking victims, who filed the complaints.

Guo denied all allegations against her and says she is a Filipino citizen.

Vast online scam centres have flourished in Southeast Asia in recent years, especially in the border areas of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The U

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