Bangladesh Bank heist: Dhaka court orders confiscating $81m from Philippine bank
The copies of the order have been sent to the RCBC president and CEO, the governor of the Philippine central bank Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippine justice minister, and the Philippine ambassador to Bangladesh, among others, to ensure swift administrative action
Highlights:
- Dhaka court orders confiscation of $81 million from RCBC
- Order comes nine years after heist
- CID unable to confirm how long it will take to recover funds
- In 2016, hackers stole $101m from BB's accounts with Federal Reserve Bank of NY
- Of that, 81m was sent to four accounts at RCBC
- $20 million was transferred to Sri Lankan bank
A Dhaka court has ordered confiscation of $81 million from the Philippines' Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in connection with the 2016 Bangladesh Bank reserve heist, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh Police has said.
CID chief Md Sibgat Ullah told reporters at a press briefing in Dhaka today (21 September) that the court issued the order last Thursday (18 September), more than nine years after the theft. A copy of the directive has been sent to RCBC's senior management in the Philippines.
However, CID officials at the briefing did not provide any specific timeframe for recovering the funds, nor did say whether RCBC had officially acknowledged the court order.
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They added that as the investigation remains ongoing, further details could not be disclosed, though they expressed hope that RCBC would act to return the money to protect its reputation.
Replying to a query, advocate Ehsanul Haque Samaji, special prosecutorial adviser to the Home Ministry, said the court issued the order following a petition by the CID.
The copies of the order have been sent to the RCBC president and CEO, the governor of the Philippine central bank Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippine justice minister, and the Philippine ambassador to Bangladesh, among others, to ensure swift administrative action, he mentioned.
"This is entirely an administrative process, and once it is completed, the money will be repatriated to Bangladesh," Samaji said.
According to media reports, RCBC previously had said the funds were not in their custody anymore, and Philippine courts also had acknowledged that most of the money disappeared into casinos – a sector exempted from anti-money laundering laws in the country.
So, even if Bangladesh courts orders "confiscating: the money from RCBC, the bank doesn't actually have the funds in its possession to hand over.
The court order
The Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka issued the directive under Section 17(2)(7) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012, following an application by the CID, the agency said in a statement issued today.
It said its investigations confirmed that RCBC officials, including the then president and CEO Lorenzo Tan, branch manager Maia Santos Deguito of RCBC's Jupiter Branch in Makati City, along with other officials from RCBC's head office and Jupiter Branch, were complicit in opening fictitious accounts through which the stolen funds were funnelled.
Despite an official message from Bangladesh Bank asking RCBC to stop payment, these officials proceeded to disburse the stolen funds illegally, said the CID.
"Courts in the Philippines have already convicted RCBC officials for their involvement, while the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (central Bank of the Philippines) imposed significant penalties on the bank. On 16 February 2016, RCBC had returned only $68,000 to Bangladesh Bank, which was its first step toward repaying the stolen funds," it added.
The CID said its investigation, based on the evidence, determined that RCBC, as a corporate entity, committed money laundering in line with Section 27 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act.
The Dhaka court ordered that the entire $81 million confiscated from RCBC must be repatriated to the Bangladesh government's treasury, it added.
Case in limbo
On 5 February 2016, hackers stole $101 million from Bangladesh Bank's accounts with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Of the amount, $81 million was sent to four accounts at RCBC in Manila, while $20 million was transferred to a bank in Sri Lanka.
The money sent to the RCBC accounts was reportedly transferred entirely to Philippine casinos.
Officials believe a group of hackers laundered the reserve money with the help of a vested group within the country.
M Jubayer Bin Huda, then deputy director of the central bank's Accounts and Budgeting Department, filed a case at Motijheel Police Station on 15 March 2016 under the Money Laundering Prevention Act against unidentified individuals.
The CID was assigned to investigate the case. However, the probe has been slow-paced.
The submission of the reserve heist probe report has been delayed 88 times so far. The CID was scheduled to submit the investigation report on 26 August this year, but it failed to do so.
That day, Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Jakir Hossain's court fixed 29 September as the next date for submission.
