T No PHL govt role in off-court talks on Bangladesh Bank heist

HE Department of Finance (DOF) said on Monday its position regarding the out-of-court settlement proposed by Bangladesh in line with the $81-million bank cyber heist in 2016 remains unchanged, stating that the Philippine government will not be involved.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, in a text message to reporters, pointed out that the Philippine government will still not be involved in line with the proposed out-of-court settlement by Bangladesh with regard to the theft by still unidentified hackers of funds of the Bangladesh Bank, deposited

in an account in the Federal Reserve in New York.

“Our position is unchanged,” Dominguez said.

In 2016, it was reported that unidentified hackers stole $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank’s vaults in New York Federal Reserve and transferred the funds in different fake accounts in Rizal Commercial The amount that Bangladesh Bank was able to retrieve from the Philippines two years after the cyber heist in 2016 Banking Corp. (RCBC). It was pointed out that the money was laundered through casinos in the Philippines.

The Bangladesh Bank was able to retrieve $15 million from the Philippines after two years, while the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) ordered RCBC to pay a P1billion fine for failing to prevent the withdrawal of stolen funds.

In other reports, it was pointed out that the Bangladesh Bank is being eyed to pay 10 percent or $6.6 million of the remaining funds of $66 million to United States law firms should the legal battle with RCBC in terms or recovering the remaining money from the bank heist be successful.

It was learned that the Bangladesh Bank is already preparing to file a case against RCBC in an international court by January 15.

In the same year, Dominguez told retired Maj. Gen. John Gomes, the Bangladeshi ambassador to Manila, that recovery efforts of the stolen funds will have to pass through proper legal procedures for that country’s own protection so that no other party could contest its rightful claim to the stolen money in the future.

The return of the $15 million came in two batches, one totaling $4.63 million and the other P488.280 million, estimated to be equivalent to $10.61 million. The casino junket operator Kim Wong had turned over the money in the course of a Senate investigation on the cyber heist.