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Bangladesh has up to now declined to disclose its findings of an
inquiry into how the hackers used stolen Bangladesh Bank
credentials to try to transfer nearly $1 billion from its U.S.
Federal Reserve account in February.
Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, who last week met
a Bangladesh delegation led by Minister of Law Anisul Huq, said
Manila "strongly recommended" Dhaka share the results of its
investigation.
While the Bangladesh central bank, the Bangladesh Bank, had
previously declined to release any inquiry findings, saying it
wanted to deny the perpetrators knowledge of the investigation,
it would now do so, Huq told Reuters.
“It is part of co-operation. We will give them an update of our
investigation,” he said.
The hackers managed to transfer $81 million via an account at
the New York Federal Reserve to four accounts in fake names at a
branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in the Philippines.
Most of the money was laundered through Philippine casinos and
only about $15 million was recovered from a gaming junket
operator and returned to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has said it wants the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC)
to compensate it for its losses, but the bank refuses to pay and
has said the Bangladesh central bank was "negligent".
Huq last week said RCBC should shoulder the burden for accepting
stolen funds.
RCBC was fined a record one billion pesos ($20 million) by the
Philippine central bank for its failure to prevent the movement
of the stolen Bangladesh money through its bank.
Huq said paying that fine was tantamount to accepting
culpability.
A Philippine anti-money laundering agency last month filed
charges against five RCBC officials in connection with the
theft.
No arrests have been made despite investigations by the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol, Bangladesh police and
authorities in the Philippines.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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