M Faruque Hossain :
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on Sunday said that the government should engage all-out efforts to recover the $81 million from the Philippines.
Mahbubey Alam talking to The New Nation said, the government should handle the issue diplomatically to recover the stolen money.
“We do not want to move the file as it is very critical and time consuming as well as wasting of money. To move legally, we need to appoint lawyer from both the countries. We have to bear legal expenses as we have to send lawyers there,” he said.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council Director Julia Bacay-Abad said, Bangladesh government should now file a third party claim so that the funds currently kept in the vault of the Bangko Sentral ng Philippines (BSP) would finally be released.
He said that Manila had already granted its petition for civil forfeiture filed last May.
Under the rule of civil forfeiture, any person or party who has a claim on the amount forfeited should file a verified petition with the same court that rendered the order of forfeiture.
On April 18, Regional Trial Court in the National Capital Region Executive Judge issued a provisional asset preservation order (PAPO) forbidding the respondents from transacting, withdrawing, transferring, removing, converting, concealing or disposing the assets covered by the order for a period of 20 days.
Both BSP and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee have completed their investigation on the $81 million bank heist.
The criminal gang was able to steal a total value of about $81 million from the Federal Reserve’s Bangladesh account through a series of fraudulent transactions, but a typo in some transaction prevented a further $850 million heist.
When the Federal Reserve Bank of New York cleared five transactions made by the Bangladesh Bank hackers, the money went in two directions. The Fed’s system sent $20 million to Sri Lanka and $81 million to the Philippines.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on Sunday said that the government should engage all-out efforts to recover the $81 million from the Philippines.
Mahbubey Alam talking to The New Nation said, the government should handle the issue diplomatically to recover the stolen money.
“We do not want to move the file as it is very critical and time consuming as well as wasting of money. To move legally, we need to appoint lawyer from both the countries. We have to bear legal expenses as we have to send lawyers there,” he said.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council Director Julia Bacay-Abad said, Bangladesh government should now file a third party claim so that the funds currently kept in the vault of the Bangko Sentral ng Philippines (BSP) would finally be released.
He said that Manila had already granted its petition for civil forfeiture filed last May.
Under the rule of civil forfeiture, any person or party who has a claim on the amount forfeited should file a verified petition with the same court that rendered the order of forfeiture.
On April 18, Regional Trial Court in the National Capital Region Executive Judge issued a provisional asset preservation order (PAPO) forbidding the respondents from transacting, withdrawing, transferring, removing, converting, concealing or disposing the assets covered by the order for a period of 20 days.
Both BSP and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee have completed their investigation on the $81 million bank heist.
The criminal gang was able to steal a total value of about $81 million from the Federal Reserve’s Bangladesh account through a series of fraudulent transactions, but a typo in some transaction prevented a further $850 million heist.
When the Federal Reserve Bank of New York cleared five transactions made by the Bangladesh Bank hackers, the money went in two directions. The Fed’s system sent $20 million to Sri Lanka and $81 million to the Philippines.
