Bangladesh team to meet Philippines president on stolen BB funds

A high-level team led by Law Minister Anisul Huq will go to the Philippines on Saturday with the objective to repatriate about $66 million stolen from Bangladesh Bank reserves by the hackers.

The team, which includes Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, will meet with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on November 28, US-based Bloomberg News reported, citing Bangladesh Ambassador John Gomes.

Officials at the finance ministry and the BB also confirmed that the team has got appointment for meeting the Philippine president.

The Bangladesh team will also meet with Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, Central Bank Governor Amando Tetangco and officials of gaming regulator in the Philippines.

So far, Bangladesh has managed to bring back $15.25 million of the $81 million stolen from the central bank's account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York by cyber thieves in February.

The team is going to ensure that the top level leaders of the Philippines provide support for repatriating the remaining amount.

The team will also include Abdur Razzak, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry; Attorney General Mahbubey Alam; and Banking Secretary Eunusur Rahman.

The law minister, while replying to journalists' query about his ensuing Philippines visit yesterday, said he will speak about the success or failure of his visit upon his return on November 30.

On November 12, Bangladesh received $15.25 million in cash from the Anti-Money Laundering Council of the Philippines after a Filipino court in September adjudged that the BB is the rightful owner of the money surrendered by casino boss Kim Wong and his Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company.

The money has already been deposited in the BB account with NY Fed.

In February, hackers flooded the NY Fed with requests for transfers totalling almost $1 billion from an account owned by the BB.

Around $101 million was successfully withdrawn before suspicions were raised. Of the amount, $20 million was wired to Sri Lanka and recovered by the BB soon after.

The rest was transferred to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp of the Philippines and from there $46 million found its way into the lightly regulated Filipino casino industry and disappeared.

At least $54 million of the $81 million that ended up in the Philippines could be recovered, according to the probe carried out by a three-member team led by former BB governor Mohammed Farashuddin.

So far, the anti-money laundering regulator of the Philippines has accounted for $60 million of the stolen money.

Of them, $15 million has been traced to Wong and $28 million to Solaire Casino; the remaining $17 million is believed to be with Filipino remittance company Philrem, which it has denied. But the other $21 million of the stolen money is yet to be traced.

The cyber heist, which was the biggest in history, has not only revealed the weakness in the BB's system, but also raised questions on the role of the NY Fed and the SWIFT.

The BB and its lawyers have suggested some of the blame lies with SWIFT, a Brussels-based cooperative of financial institutions that operates a crucial messaging system among thousands of banks.

The BB lawyers have also hinted some responsibility may lie with the NY Fed, which stopped as suspicious most of the 35 transfer orders sent by the attackers but let five through.

Although the NY Fed and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommu-nication (SWIFT) denied any failures, the two joined hands with the BB in May to help Bangladesh recover the stolen sum.