The government asked a high-level Bangladesh delegation for a copy of the results of its investigation into the $81-million cyber heist to help recover the stolen reserves, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said over the weekend.
Dominguez and other Philippine officials met last week with the Bangladesh delegation led by justice minister Anisul Huq and Bangladesh Bank governor Fazle Kabir.
The delegation thanked the Philippine government for helping in the return of $15 million of the funds stolen by hackers in February from the Bangladesh Bank, and which found its way to the Philippines, the Finance Department said in a statement.
The hackers stole $81 million from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which said instructions to make the payments were authenticated by the Swift message system, widely used by financial institutions. The episode highlighted vulnerable links in the payment network underlying the global financial system.
Dominguez said the government would continue to help recover the rest of the funds following processes required under Philippine laws. At the meeting, Philippine officials asked that Bangladesh share with the Department of Justice and the Anti-Money Laundering Council the results of its investigation into the heist.
“We are pursuing lawsuits on your behalf, actually, as vigorously as we can,” Dominguez said.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla asked Bangladesh officials for a full report on the investigation to strengthen the Philippine government’s position on behalf of Bangladesh in the court proceedings, the Finance Department said in the statement.
Espenilla also assured the Bangladesh officials that the Philippines had an “effective anti-money laundering system in place” and that Bangko Sentral already advised the parties involved to “correct the deficiencies” in their respective processes.
The Bangladesh officials, in response, said progress was made in the investigation and that it would send the government whatever updates they had on the probe.
“We have already received $15 million because of the efforts of the government and also the Senate. We’d like to express our [gratitude] and thankfulness for their efforts which has led to the recovery of the $15 million,” said Huq at the meeting held last week.
The Bangladesh delegation also included Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Ministry; Attorney General Mahbubey Alam; Md. Eunusur Rahman, Secretary, Bank of Financial Institutions Division, Ministry of Finance; Debaprosad Debnath, general manager of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, Bangladesh Bank; and Mohammad Abdur Rab, joint director of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, Bangladesh Bank. With Bloomberg