BB seeks WB help to recover stolen money

The central bank now sought World Bank cooperation in the hunt for recovering the stolen foreign-exchange reserves from the Philippines, officials said, as drives so far saw little headway.
The appeal was made at a meeting with a three-member WB team at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka Tuesday with Bangladesh Bank (BB) new Governor Fazle Kabir in the chair.
"We're now considering the WB proposals to help the BB recover the stolen money and enhance cyber security," a senior central banker told the FE.
He also said the WB had already offered to help the BB with its supports and resources for stolen asset recovery and take urgent preventive measures to enhance cyber security for the central bank of Bangladesh alongside the country's overall banking system.
The central bank earlier had said it would follow stolen asset-recovery initiative (StAR), if necessary. StAR is a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
BB Deputy Governors Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan and SK Sur Chowdhury also attended the meeting.
On the other hand, the inquiry committee formed by the government earlier over the heist started its function formally on the day.
Earlier on March 15, the Banks and Financial Institutions Division (BFID) of the Ministry of Finance formed the three-member committee, headed by former BB Governor Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, to investigate the intercontinental digital fraud.
Convener of the committee Dr. Farashuddin sought corporation from all in completing an initial probe report within the stipulated timeframe.
"Please help the committee to work properly," Dr. Farashuddin told reporters while getting in the BB headquarters at 3:30 pm.
The committee is mandated to submit a preliminary report in 30 days and a full report in 75 days, according to the terms of reference guiding its most difficult task of its kind.
"We're providing all sorts of cooperation to facilitate the committee," Subhankar Saha, a spokesperson for the nation's state bank, told the newsmen. "The committee has started its function formally."
Earlier in the day, a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) team, headed by Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) Saiful Alam, met with the BB governor to seek possible cooperation in breaking the case of reserve heist from the bank account with the US Fed.
"We're trying to indentify perpetrators of the digital crimes," Additional Deputy Inspector-General Shah Alam told reporters after the meeting.
The police official also said the CID team is also trying to track the links of perpetrators, both local and external.
The cybercrime took place on February 5 through sending a total of 35 transfer orders into the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York, where the BB maintains its foreign-exchange-reserve account.
Nearly $20 million of the stolen money was netted back from Sri Lanka. The lion's share of the booty landed in the Philippines, where it is reported to have been squandered through gaming in casinos.
Meanwhile, Manila-based Rappler.com reports: Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) announced on Tuesday that it has fired bank manager Maia Santos-Deguito and senior customer relations officer Angela Torres for alleged illegal transactions linked to the $81-million Bangladesh bank heist.
"RCBC has terminated Maia Deguito and Angela Torres, the top two officials of the bank's Jupiter branch, for violating bank policies and procedures and falsification of commercial documents," RCBC Legal and Regulatory Affairs Head Macel Fernandez-Estavillo said in a statement.
Estavillo said appropriate charges will be filed against the two in court by next week.
"Other branch and bank officials are expected to be meted out various sanctions ranging from termination to suspension in the coming days when the internal investigation is expected to be completed," she added.
Torres used to be the assistant branch manager at the RCBC Jupiter branch in Makati, which has been linked to the laundering of funds stolen from Bangladesh bank
RCBC alleged that the "breaches" in policies and regulations committed by Deguito and Torres "facilitated the alleged laundering of $81 million of remittance that is now being investigated by the Senate and other government agencies."
At the second Senate hearing on the biggest money laundering incident recorded in Philippine history on March 17, Estavillo had said that the bank would file perjury charges against Torres for allegedly lying in an affidavit she submitted to bank officials.
Torres had said in her affidavit that P20 million was loaded into the car of businessman William Go, the alleged holder of one of 4 accounts at RCBC Jupiter used for the money laundering scheme.
At the Senate hearing, however, former RCBC Jupiter customer service head Romualdo Agarrado testified that he saw the money being loaded into the car of Deguito, and that the branch manager left with the money. He also claimed that she tried to bribe him.
Agarrado had described Torres as Deguito's "right hand."
RCBC lawyers discovered that Go's signature had been forged, and that the concerned account does not belong to him.
Go had said that he would file two more criminal complaints against Deguito and Torres for falsifying documents. The bank manager is also facing a money laundering complaint.
The Senate blue ribbon committee will conduct its third hearing on the multi-million-dollar money-laundering case on March 29.
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