BD retrieves $15.25m more of stolen reserves

Bangladesh retrieved US$15.25 million more of its central bank's stolen money, a top banker disclosed in Dhaka Saturday.
Major-General (Retd) John Gomes, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Philippines, received the funds in cash on behalf of the government from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of the Philippines on Friday, Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan, Senior Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB), told the FE.
A two-member team, headed by Debaprosad Debnath, general manager at the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of the central bank, now in Manila, attended the handover function.
The money received will be deposited in the BB account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York immediately through a multination bank in the Philippines.
"We're hopeful about transfer of the funds in BB's foreign- exchange reserve account from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York within this week," the deputy governor said about the stolen reserve repatriation process.

With the return of the money from Manila, the total recovered amount will stand at $35.25 million as the central bank of Bangladesh was able to bring back $20 million from Sri Lanka shortly after the trans-national cyber-heist.
Earlier on September 19 last, a court ordered the Philippine central bank to remit around US$15.25 million to Bangladesh Bank, out of the 81 million dollars stolen into that country from BB foreign reserves.
"A Manila court declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the funds, totalling $15.25 million," a report from the Philippine capital earlier had quoted chief state counsel of the Philippine Department of Justice Ricardo Paras III as saying.
On October 30, the Manila court cleared an 'execution suit' outlining the procedures for sending back $15.25 million of BB's reserves from the Philippines.
"We're now working to recover the entire stolen $81 million from the Philippines shortly," another BB senior official told the FE while explaining the latest recovery position.
As part of the move, a high-powered delegation, headed by Law Minister Anisul Huq, will visit the Philippines by the end of November to expedite diplomatic efforts with the Southeast Asian country to bring back the remaining $65.75 million.
During the visit, the delegation is scheduled to meet with senior officials, including Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking cooperation in bringing back the entire stolen money, according to the central banker.
The Filipino president earlier had promised to return the entire amount of the money stolen from the BB's reserve account with the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York.
Unknown hackers tried to steal nearly $1.0 billion from the BB account at the Fed early February this calendar year, and succeeded in digitally burgling out $81 million into four accounts at RCBC (Rizal Commercial Banking Corp) in Manila in what is dubbed biggest such cyber heist.
The cyber fraud took place on the night of February 04, sending a total of 35 transfer orders into the US Federal Reserve Bank where the central bank of Bangladesh maintains its foreign-exchange account.
Of the 35 transfer orders placed, 30 were blocked. Four transfers to the Philippine bank for a total of $81 million went through. The rest $20 million transferred to a Sri Lankan non-government organisation was reversed because the hackers mis-spelled the name of the entity.
Nearly $20 million of the total amount of $101 million siphoned off was recovered from Sri Lanka. The lion's share of the money landed in the Philippines.
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