Philippines offers full cooperation to return money

$81m BB heist

Officials of Finance Ministry of the Philippines yesterday assured full cooperation to Bangladesh in returning the $81 million stolen through cyber heist from Bangladesh Bank reserves. The offered their support as officials of Bangladesh Embassy in the Philippines met a finance ministry team yesterday to discuss the process for return of the money. They discussed ways to quickly return to Bangladesh the money that has so far been recovered, said sources. Some part of the stolen money has already been deposited by Casino Junket operator Wong to the Philippines Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). Of the $81 million stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh central bank, about half is said to be recoverable from various sources: businessman Kam Sin Wong, casino operator Solaire Resort and Casino, and remittance firm PhilRem. But the return of the money requires certain legal procedures to be completed first. The meeting discussed ways to resolve the legal issues and expedite the process of return of the money, said officials. In a recent interview with the Philippines daily The Inquirer, Bangladesh Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes expressed his concern that the return of $81 million stolen by hackers from its central bank—or at least the initial tranches so far recovered from various parties in the Philippines—may be delayed. The Ambassador hoped that by April or May, before the next President would assume office, the money could be returned since most of the funds had already been accounted for. He also expressed concern over the transfer of the money so far collected by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), which will have to go through the process of forfeiture through the court. He said that the Bangladesh Embassy would be submitting papers to formally claim the surrendered and confiscated amount as well as the balance.
“We don’t want delays that can be avoided keeping into consideration the legal process of the ‘forfeiture case.’ We are in contact with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and grateful to the justice secretary to provide us any legal advice and in this respect we are closely working with the DOJ,” Ambassador Gomes said.
“On the forfeiture case, I was told that it can be summarily disposed if there’s no other claimant,” he said during the interview, adding that naturally, no one would come forward because it had been established that this was part of the money stolen by hackers from the central bank of Bangladesh. Earlier on Thursday, Raul Victor Tan, treasurer and executive vice president of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), resigned, the bank said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. In his place, the RCBC board appointed Carlos Cesar Mercado, a senior vice president, as acting treasurer. On March 24, RCBC president Lorenzo Tan went on leave as the bank attempted to come to terms with the involvement of some of its officials in the $81-million heist. The bank’s board of directors said it has granted the Lorenzo Tan to go on leave to allow him to focus on clearing his name in the money laundering issue being investigated by a board committee. Unidentified hackers using official electronic bank messaging technology transferred $81 million from Bangladesh Bank’s reserves kept in an account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to accounts of RCBC in the Philippines in early February. The incident caused a global stir with investigations ongoing in Bangladesh, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman also resigned after the incident became public.

 

Philippines offers full cooperation to return money

$81m BB heist

Officials of Finance Ministry of the Philippines yesterday assured full cooperation to Bangladesh in returning the $81 million stolen through cyber heist from Bangladesh Bank reserves. The offered their support as officials of Bangladesh Embassy in the Philippines met a finance ministry team yesterday to discuss the process for return of the money. They discussed ways to quickly return to Bangladesh the money that has so far been recovered, said sources. Some part of the stolen money has already been deposited by Casino Junket operator Wong to the Philippines Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). Of the $81 million stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh central bank, about half is said to be recoverable from various sources: businessman Kam Sin Wong, casino operator Solaire Resort and Casino, and remittance firm PhilRem. But the return of the money requires certain legal procedures to be completed first. The meeting discussed ways to resolve the legal issues and expedite the process of return of the money, said officials. In a recent interview with the Philippines daily The Inquirer, Bangladesh Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes expressed his concern that the return of $81 million stolen by hackers from its central bankor at least the initial tranches so far recovered from various parties in the Philippinesmay be delayed. The Ambassador hoped that by April or May, before the next President would assume office, the money could be returned since most of the funds had already been accounted for. He also expressed concern over the transfer of the money so far collected by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), which will have to go through the process of forfeiture through the court. He said that the Bangladesh Embassy would be submitting papers to formally claim the surrendered and confiscated amount as well as the balance. We dont want delays that can be avoided keeping into consideration the legal process of the forfeiture case. We are in contact with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and grateful to the justice secretary to provide us any legal advice and in this respect we are closely working with the DOJ, Ambassador Gomes said. On the forfeiture case, I was told that it can be summarily disposed if theres no other claimant, he said during the interview, adding that naturally, no one would come forward because it had been established that this was part of the money stolen by hackers from the central bank of Bangladesh. Earlier on Thursday, Raul Victor Tan, treasurer and executive vice president of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), resigned, the bank said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. In his place, the RCBC board appointed Carlos Cesar Mercado, a senior vice president, as acting treasurer. On March 24, RCBC president Lorenzo Tan went on leave as the bank attempted to come to terms with the involvement of some of its officials in the $81-million heist. The banks board of directors said it has granted the Lorenzo Tan to go on leave to allow him to focus on clearing his name in the money laundering issue being investigated by a board committee. Unidentified hackers using official electronic bank messaging technology transferred $81 million from Bangladesh Banks reserves kept in an account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to accounts of RCBC in the Philippines in early February. The incident caused a global stir with investigations ongoing in Bangladesh, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman also resigned after the incident became public.