DOF to help recover cyberheist money

Assurance to Bangladesh gov’t

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has assured Bangladesh of the Philippine government’s full support behind ongoing efforts to recover $81 million that cyberthieves had stolen from its central bank last February.

But Dominguez pointed out to retired Maj. Gen. John Gomes, the Bangladesh ambassador to Manila, that the recovery efforts would have to go through the proper legal procedures for Bangladesh's own protection.

Dominguez said the immediate objective is for Bangladesh to recover the $15 million of the $81 million that the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila had already forfeited last July 7 and ordered kept in the vault of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

"We want to assure you that the Philippine government, including all its instrumentalities from the Central Bank, the DOJ (Department of Justice), DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), and of course the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council), are 100 percent behind you,” Dominguez said.

“We want to assure you that we will do everything that we can to assist you,”he added during a recent meeting.

Dominguez, however, said “We have, however, a legal system that has to be respected and this system has to be followed so that whatever claim you are awarded, nobody can challenge that in the future.”

To underscore the full support of the Philippine government for this recovery plan, Dominguez had asked representatives from the other agencies helping in the cyberheist probe to attend the hour-long meeting.