Bangladesh Bank (BB) has decided to file a fresh lawsuit with a state court in New York against a Filipino bank and other parties concerned, but the process may take time as the city has been locked down due to coronavirus pandemic.
The central bank on Monday decided to file a fresh case with a state court in New York after Southern District Court of New York had dismissed the previous case and gave order to run the case with state court, according to the central bank source.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) head Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan said: “The court gave the order on Saturday but we came to know it on Sunday.”
“We have instructed our lawyer in New York to file a fresh case with the state court. But the court is now taking only very important cases due to the shutdown in the city.”
Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan said: “We filed case against Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) and some individuals on charges of theft, fraud, dollar conversion, cyber hacking and conspiracy.”
"But the US court did not agree with us on charge of conspiracy, as a result, the court dismissed conspiracy charges," he added.
According to a Bangladesh Bank press release on Monday, the US District Court also dismissed the applications filed by the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), Solaire Resort and Casino, Mydas Resort and Casino and others.
They filed the applications against a civil case filed by Bangladesh Bank against them for recovering the whole money stolen from the central bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2016, it also said.
The court dismissed the applications of RCBC and others based on the lack of subject matter jurisdiction as per the forum non conveniens doctrine.
The court order mentioned that the heist occurred at the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York and it is beyond doubt proven that everything, including payment order through forgery, transaction of the heisted money by different correspondents’ accounts, and transfer of the money to other countries from the accounts, happened at New York.
Bangladesh Bank filed the case against RCBC and others with the New York court to recover the whole money heisted from the central bank’s account with Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February 2019.