Kazi Zahidul Hasan :The government has decided to form a ‘special taskforce’ soon to bring back Bangladesh Bank’s $81 million heist fund that illegally landed into the Philippines financial system last month.Officials of Home and Foreign Ministries, Prime Minister’s Office, Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, Attorney General Office, National Board of Revenue and Anti-Corruption Commission will be included in the task force headed by an Additional Secretary of the Finance Ministry.A circular in this regard will be issued in a day or two. The terms of reference will be fixed after its formation, sources in the Finance Ministry said. “The taskforce will be assigned to retrieve the heist fund that allegedly landed in Philippines through five fictitious accounts of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation’s (RCBC) Jupiter Branch,” a senior Finance Ministry official told The New Nation on Wednesday asking not to be named.He added, a number of local and foreign agencies are investigating into the heist but the taskforce will only work to bring back the fund from Philippines.The official further said that it will closely work with Philippines central bank and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and take all necessary measures to bring back the siphoned off fund from Bangladesh Bank’s reserve account held with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.Kam Sin Wong, a Chinese junket operator known in the Philippines as Kim Wong, told the Philippines Senate hearing on Tuesday that the $81 million laundered fund was remitted by two Chinese businessmen, Gao Shuhua and Ding Zhize.The Senate hearing revealed that the $81 million was remitted to five accounts created with fictitious names at the branch of the RCBC on February 5 and then consolidated to the casinos and junket operators through Philrem, a money changer company in Philippines. Wong said, $63 million of the total $81 million went to the Solaire and Midas casinos while the remaining $17 million is still with the Philrem. “The mystery behind the money-laundering was revealed at the Senate hearing. We are hopeful that we should get back our money,” said the finance ministry official adding, “The process of bringing back the money will be expedited with the formation of the taskforce”.
