The Bangladesh Bank-hired jurist sounded upbeat Wednesday about retrieving the entire US$81million stolen out from the BB foreign-exchange reserves through a trans-national cyber heist.
Necessary steps are being taken to bring back the entire amount stolen, said Ajmalul Hossain QC after over an hour-long meeting with the newly appointed BB Governor, Fazle Kabir.
"We're now trying to bring back the stolen money from the involved parties," the lawyer told the FE after the meeting.
He also said the meeting discussed future possible legal processes for recovering the money siphoned from the BB account in the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York through forged coded transfer orders.
The central bank will write a letter to the Federal Reserve Bank seeking cooperation in recovering the money.
"I found many lapses of the US Federal Reserve Bank in disbursement of the funds after securitising relevant documents," Mr. Hossain said to underpin his hope.
"We'll discuss the lapses with the involved parties."
He noted that the funds were disbursed from the US Federal Reserve Bank without instructions. "So we're hopeful about recovering the funds."
Cybercriminals sent 35 orders, via the Swift financial messaging system, to transfer roughly $951 million out of the BB's account in the New York Fed on February 4 night to a series of private accounts in other countries.
The Fed executed five of these orders, transferring a total of $101 million to four private accounts in the Philippines and one to the account of a non-governmental organisation in Sri Lanka.
It did not carry out the remaining 30 transfer orders, totaling $850 million, and instead sought reconfirmation from the central bank of Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney sent a letter to New York Fed President William Dudley, requesting a private meeting with bank staff to discuss the digital fraud.
"Why did the New York Fed block the last 30 transfer orders, but not the first 5 orders? What was it about the last 30 transfer orders that raised the New York Fed's suspicions?" Maloney, a New York Democrat, shot the questions in her letter that is available on her website.
BB Governor Fazle Kabir earlier sent a letter requesting the Fed to investigate if there had been any lapses or whether it had any involvement in the heist.
Among others, Change Management Consultant Allah Malik Kazemi and Deputy Governors Abu Hena Mohd. Razee Hassan and SK Sur Chowdhury attended Wednesday's meeting.
On the other hand, the Philippine government may still recover about $34 million of the $81-million funds stolen from the Bangladesh central bank if authorities would act swiftly, Senator Ralph Recto said on the day.
Recto issued the statement upon learning that not all the $81 million was laundered successfully through Philippine-based casinos, reports www.sunstar.com.ph
"While the Senate blue ribbon committee is solving this great puzzle, our law enforcement agencies must act swiftly to recover any portion of the loot that is still within Philippine soil," the report said, referring to his radio interview.
"There is a chance that we can recover $34 million if local authorities will zero in on the paper trail established during the Senate hearings," he added.
Businessman Kim Wong, who testified at the Senate probe on the money laundering scandal on Tuesday, said only $61 million of $81 million found its way to Philippine casinos while some $17 million still with Philrem Corporation, the remittance firm responsible for transferring the stolen money from Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation to different accounts and individuals.
Wong also admitted that a total of P1 billion went to his firm Eastern Hawaii Leisure Co. Ltd., but P550 million of the amount was given to casino player who already lost the money to baccarat games.
He, however, said he is willing to surrender to the authorities the entire P450 million that his company received.
Apart from the $17 million allegedly with Philrem and the P450 million with Wong, Recto noted that almost $7 million of the stolen money had been traced and may be retrieved from casino accounts.
If the money will not be retrieved, Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino III said there are no legal consequences in the Philippines but the incident will be a "national disgrace" to the country for being involved in such cyber heist.
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