Bangladesh and Philippines are going to hold negotiations over the recovery of the money which was heisted from Bangladesh Bank's reserves in February 2016. A delegation team of five members from Bangladesh has meanwhile reached Philippines. These Bangladeshi officials will testify in an ongoing case in a court of Philippines. They will also hold meetings over the case filed with an American court too.
A state court in the United States has instructed the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation of Philippines (RCBC) and others concerned to resolve the matter through a compromise. Reportedly the US court has asked the concerned officials and entities to settle down the matter by 2 February 2023. Masud Biswas, Chief of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is most likely to leave for Philippines shortly.
The delegation team from Bangladesh includes Bangladesh Bank's legal consultant Barrister Ajmalul Hossain QC, BFIU functionaries and officials from Crime Investigation Department (CID). Bangladesh Ambassador to Philippines is also supposed to join the team. The Bangladeshi delegates will be in Philippines till 3 February 2023, financial sources have informed. They will hold meetings with different organizations to recover the money which was heisted through a cyber attack on Bangladesh Bank's reserves in February 2016.
It may be added that the New York Supreme Court in the United States quashed a motion to dismiss appeal by the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) of Philippines on 13 January 2023 in connection with the cyber heist of Bangladesh Bank by hackers who took away 101 million dollars in February 2016. 20 million USD was returned to Bangladesh from Sri Lanka following an intervention by BB as well as a spelling error in the payment instruction. Another 17 million USD was recovered from Philippines later on with the help of Philippines government and Philippines central bank.
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