Reuters, Manila :
A Bangladesh central bank team visiting Manila to recover $81 million stolen from its account in New York said it was close to getting back $15 million of the loot frozen by the Philippines, but first has to prove ownership of the cash to its hosts.
Cyber criminals tried to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Manila’s Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCB.PS), which was then laundered through the city’s casinos, according to investigators. Only about $18 million, including $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines’ casino regulator, has been accounted for. The Philippines’ Department of Justice (DoJ) has asked the Bangladesh Bank delegation to file a legal document staking its claim to $15 million of that, but the casino money will have to be pursued separately, said two sources close to the visiting team. “We are in the final stages of recovering the $15 million,
but for the rest we hope a (Philippines) senate hearing on the issue resumes so that we can get to know more details about the case,” said John Gomes, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the Philippines, who is helping the bank representatives on a four-day visit to Manila ending Friday. The last Philippines Senate hearing into the heist ended in May as a new government came to power under President Rodrigo Duterte. No date has been announced for a resumption. Bangladeshi officials say the money was able to disappear into the casino industry because of systemic failures at RCBC, not just individual error by some of its officers. The Philippine central bank said on Friday it would fine RCBC 1 billion pesos ($21 million) in relation to failings over the heist, the largest amount it has ever approved “as part of its supervisory enforcement actions”.
In March RCBC’s then president Lorenzo Tan told a Senate hearing that there was “some judgment error from the people on the ground”. It said earlier on Friday that the transfers were made based on authenticated instructions over payments network SWIFT, and the hackers had used stolen Bangladesh Bank credentials.
The Bangladeshi delegation consists of Debaprosad Debnath and Abdul Rab from Bangladesh Bank’s financial intelligence unit, and Bangladesh Bank lawyer Ajmalul Hossain. They have already met the DoJ and officials from the anti-money-laundering council in Manila, and will be seeing central bank officials on Friday.
The team has prepared an affidavit citing a letter by the New York Fed to the Philippines’ central bank, in which the Fed said the money was stolen from Bangladesh Bank’s account. The affidavit will be given to the DoJ to file with a court, the sources said. Gomes told Reuters late on Thursday he hoped the $15 million would be returned in a month. He will hold a press conference on the issue later on Friday.
A Bangladesh central bank team visiting Manila to recover $81 million stolen from its account in New York said it was close to getting back $15 million of the loot frozen by the Philippines, but first has to prove ownership of the cash to its hosts.
Cyber criminals tried to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Manila’s Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCB.PS), which was then laundered through the city’s casinos, according to investigators. Only about $18 million, including $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines’ casino regulator, has been accounted for. The Philippines’ Department of Justice (DoJ) has asked the Bangladesh Bank delegation to file a legal document staking its claim to $15 million of that, but the casino money will have to be pursued separately, said two sources close to the visiting team. “We are in the final stages of recovering the $15 million,
but for the rest we hope a (Philippines) senate hearing on the issue resumes so that we can get to know more details about the case,” said John Gomes, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the Philippines, who is helping the bank representatives on a four-day visit to Manila ending Friday. The last Philippines Senate hearing into the heist ended in May as a new government came to power under President Rodrigo Duterte. No date has been announced for a resumption. Bangladeshi officials say the money was able to disappear into the casino industry because of systemic failures at RCBC, not just individual error by some of its officers. The Philippine central bank said on Friday it would fine RCBC 1 billion pesos ($21 million) in relation to failings over the heist, the largest amount it has ever approved “as part of its supervisory enforcement actions”.
In March RCBC’s then president Lorenzo Tan told a Senate hearing that there was “some judgment error from the people on the ground”. It said earlier on Friday that the transfers were made based on authenticated instructions over payments network SWIFT, and the hackers had used stolen Bangladesh Bank credentials.
The Bangladeshi delegation consists of Debaprosad Debnath and Abdul Rab from Bangladesh Bank’s financial intelligence unit, and Bangladesh Bank lawyer Ajmalul Hossain. They have already met the DoJ and officials from the anti-money-laundering council in Manila, and will be seeing central bank officials on Friday.
The team has prepared an affidavit citing a letter by the New York Fed to the Philippines’ central bank, in which the Fed said the money was stolen from Bangladesh Bank’s account. The affidavit will be given to the DoJ to file with a court, the sources said. Gomes told Reuters late on Thursday he hoped the $15 million would be returned in a month. He will hold a press conference on the issue later on Friday.
