A Dhaka court has ordered the confiscation of US$81 million from the Philippines' Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in connection with the Bangladesh Bank reserve heist in 2016, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh Police announced on Sunday.
In February 2016, hackers stole $101 million from Bangladesh Bank's accounts with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Of this, $81 million was channelled into four accounts at RCBC, while $20 million was sent to a Sri Lankan bank, which later returned the funds to Bangladesh.
CID chief Md Sibgat Ullah disclosed the development at a press briefing at the agency's headquarters in the capital's Malibagh on Sunday.
He said that the court issued the order last Thursday, more than nine years after the theft, directing the confiscation of the funds still held at RCBC. A copy of the order has been forwarded to RCBC's senior officials in the Philippines.
However, he was unable to confirm how long it would take for the funds to be recovered or whether RCBC has formally acknowledged the directive.
As the investigation remains ongoing, the CID has withheld further details, though Sibgat Ullah expressed hope that RCBC would return the funds to Bangladesh in order to protect its reputation.
The Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka issued the order under Section 17(2)(7) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012, following an application from the CID.
According to the CID, investigations confirmed that RCBC officials, including then-president and CEO Lorenzo Tan, branch manager Maia Santos Deguito of RCBC's Jupiter Branch in Makati City, and other staff from both the head office and the branch, were complicit in opening fictitious accounts through which the stolen funds were laundered.
Despite an official message from Bangladesh Bank instructing RCBC to halt payments, the officials allegedly went ahead with disbursing the funds illegally.
Courts in the Philippines have since convicted several RCBC officials, while the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the Philippine central bank) imposed heavy fines on the bank.
On February 16, 2016, RCBC returned only $68,000 to Bangladesh Bank as an initial repayment.
The CID said its investigation concluded that RCBC, as a corporate entity, committed money laundering in line with Section 27 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act.
Accordingly, the Court of Metropolitan Senior Special Judge in Dhaka ordered that the full $81 million be confiscated and repatriated to the Bangladesh government's treasury.
The 2016 heist remains one of the largest cyber thefts in history. Officials suspect that an international hacking group laundered the funds with assistance from vested interests inside Bangladesh.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com
