Another team from Bangladesh visiting Phl

A top-level team from the Bangladesh government will visit the Philippines next month, hoping to meet with President Duterte to speed up the recovery of some $81 million in funds stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh Central Bank.

This follows a visit early this month of another team from the Bangladesh Central Bank.

The visiting delegation will be comprised of Bangladesh Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Anisul Huq, Bangladesh Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and possibly Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam.

To be joined by senior Bangladesh bank officials, the team will be in Manila from Sept. 28 to 30 to meet with the secretary of justice, solicitor general, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor and other key officials from concerned agencies, Bangladesh Ambassador John Gomes said in a recent interview.

“They aim to meet the secretary of the Department of Justice, the Solicitor General, the Bangko Sentral governor, the executive director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and the foreign affairs secretary,” he said.

“They would be honored to meet the President.”

Last month, a team from Bangladesh Central Bank also met with BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. to work on the speedy recovery of the $ 81 million stolen funds.

Gomes welcomed the BSP’s move to penalize Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. the amount of P1 billion.

“What is good for us is that the government has made RCBC liable. That liability is a strength for Bangladesh,” he said.

Gomes said RCBC was denying in the Senate its responsibility as a bank.

“They said they were not aware of these fake accounts but now that they were made aware of these fake accounts,” he said.

“Our point of view is that this strengthens our case for a Senate hearing.”

Gomes has met with Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III to appeal for the resumption of hearings.