BB team leaves for Manila over mediation

Staff Reporter :
A team of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) left Dhaka for Manila on Saturday night for mediation over its law suit against Philipine’s Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC).
The RCBC at the centre of an unsolved $81 million BB’s cyber heist that took place in February 2016, when unidentified hackers used fraudulent orders on the SWIFT payments system to steal $81 million from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The money was sent to accounts at RCBC and then vanished into the casino industry in the Philippines.
Bangladesh Bank has accused RCBC and several others, including top executives, of conspiring to steal its money. The Manila-based Rizal bank denies the allegations.
Almost three years after the incident, the central bank of Bangladesh filed a case with a United States district court.
Recently, the New York (NY) Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the Bangladesh Bank, dismissing Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) bank and six others’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit the central bank filed against 20 individuals and organisations in the US court over the 2016 cyber heist.
The court mentioned in its judgement, which was issued on 13 January, that the RCBC had “intentional participation” in stealing money from the Bangladesh Bank’s account in New York.
If RCBC’s New York account was not used and the company did not cooperate with the accused in the Philippines, there was no way for the money to leave the
Federal Reserve Bank, the court observed.
The NY court’s latest judgement cleared all bars for the Bangladesh Bank to move forward with their case against RCBC and 18 other individuals or organisations at the US court on Jurisdictional Ground, said a statement by Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) Monday.
The state court also ordered the defendants to file their responses by 2 February and directed them to mediate with the Bangladesh Ban
“A five-member BB team had left for the Philippines to discuss with the defendants over the central bank cyber heist case,” said a BB official
He said that the five members delegation including Ajmalul Hossain QC, the Chief Counsel of the central bank, two officials of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and others from CID officers, will witnesses the ongoing case in a Philippine court. They will also discuss about the negotiation process regarding the US court order.
Seeking anonymity an official of BFIU said that, reserve heist case is going on in the Philippine court. The Philippine government and the court cooperated with us in various matters.
Besides, if there is positive progress regarding the mediation, the head of BFIU also visit the Philippines on Sunday night, he added.