Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bangladesh Ambassador in Manila has urged the Bangladesh government to initiate immediate legal steps to retrieve Bangladesh Bank’s $81 million heist fund.
The fund was allegedly stolen by Chinese hackers from Bangladesh Bank (BB) account maintained with the US Federal Reserve Bank and deposited to four fictitious accounts maintained with the Philippines Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC).
The Bangladesh envoy to the Philippines John Gomes recently wrote a letter to the Foreign Ministry seeking legal steps as per the laws of Philippines to recover the fund from the country, foreign office sources said.
Gomes had several meetings with the Filipino authorities regarding the return of the fund and his counterpart asked him to follow legal steps as per their laws.
“It will take several more procedures before the money is turned over to Bangladeshi authorities. The authorities will first lodge a formal appeal to the Philippines Department of Justice (DOJ) through the Bangladesh’s Attorney General’s Office for the mutual legal assistance to retrieve the fund,” read the letter.
It will also need to file a case against the respondent banks with a Manila court for their unlawful activity of “hacking or cracking” under the E-Commerce Act, an offense under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
“The Bangladesh government will also have to formally enrol in the case as a party to claim the money and it the rightful owner of the fund. These are the procedures, among others, which that the authorities must be followed before the money is turned over to them,” he added.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMCL) of Philippines earlier filed a civil forfeiture case before a Manila court, paving the way for formal proceedings to return part of the $81 million stolen from BB.
The Bangladesh envoy in the letter also said that the Bangladesh authorities will have to submit all supportive documents and evidences regarding the account hacking and illegal fund transfer and later it landed to the Philippines financial system.
“We will soon start legal procedures that needed to return the money from the Philippines. The Attorney General’s Office and the BB have been given the task,” Secretary to the Bank and Financial Institutions Division (BFID) of the Finance Ministry Md Eunusur Rahman told The New Nation on Tuesday.
Rahman is also leading the seven-member government task force formed to expedite the process of recovering the $81million BB fund which fraudulently channelled to the Philippines.
“We have already established communication with the countries where the stolen money was siphoned off and coordinating with various international organisations to bring back the fund,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Ambassador in Manila on Tuesday visited the DOJ officials to discuss about the return of BB fund.
“We have assured the Bangladesh envoy that the money stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh Bank will be returned to its government as soon as possible but procedures have to be followed,” acting Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas told media after the Ambassador from the Bangladeshi government visited the DOJ.
Caparas said the Bangladeshi government is concerned about the return of the money stolen from that country.
“The visit of the Bangladesh Ambassador was just to make sure and essentially to ask not just for our support or help but something could be done as soon as possible,” Caparas said.
“We did assure them that that is being done. The legal process which involves making sure it goes as quickly as possible,” he added.
Last February, instructions to steal $951 million from Bangladesh Bank, the Central Bank of Bangladesh, were issued. Five transactions issued by hackers or insiders worth $101 million from a Bangladesh Bank account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York succeeded, with $20 million traced to Sri Lanka and $81 million to the Philippines. The funds in Sri Lanka have since been recovered.
The international transfer desk of the intermediate bank, Deutsche Bank, further blocked $850 million in 35 transactions.
