BB to go through legal process to recover stolen money

Bangladesh will have to apply to the Philippine's court for the money to be return within August 16 to August 30, according to a statement Bangladesh Bank issued yesterday. According to Philippine law the department of justice of this country will work on behalf of Bangladesh Bank under Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request sent by Bangladesh to refund the money stolen in the heist, said the statement. The update of recovering the stolen money came after Bangladesh Bank team led by Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) General Manager Debaprosad Debnath visited the Philippines from August 1 to 5 to recover money. Bangladesh Bank team visited Philippine for the fourth time so far to assist in the money recovering process. During these visits they met with the department of justice of Philippine, Anti Money Laundering Council, central bank of Philippine and other respective authorities. All organization assured Bangladesh Bank that they will assist in recovering the stolen money, according to the statement. During the last visit, Bangladesh Bank team held meetings with the chairman of senate committee of Philippine, secretary of department of justice, solicitor general, chief state councilor, president of the regulator of casino sector and chief operating officer, chief officer of anti money laundering council and deputy governor of Philippine's central bank. Bangladesh's ambassador to the Philippine led the meeting on behalf of Bangladesh Bank. In the meeting, all sides mentioned the commitment that Philippine's new government made over the recovering stolen money. According to the statement, Chinese businessman Kim Wong who returned $15m to Bangladesh and AMLC submitted a joint motion to the court to return the money back to Bangladesh Bank. Philippine court issued a Partial Forfeiture Order on July 1. As a result Bangladesh has reached the final state of getting back $15m of the stolen money. Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, discussed the issue with Philippine central bank governor several times and asked him to take action against RCBC (Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation). Moreover letters have been sent twice by Fazle Kabir to Philippine central bank governor. Subsequently, RCBC was fined around $21m by Philippine central bank. Bangladesh Bank is now working on recovering the total stolen $81m, said the statement. Bangladesh Bank managed to get Pan Asia Banking to cancel the $20 million that it had already received and rerouted that money back to Bangladesh Bank’s New York Fed account. But the $81 million that went to Rizal Bank in the Philippines was gone. It had already been credited to multiple accounts—reportedly belonging to casinos in the Philippine.