BB Heist: Bangladesh to share only CID findings with Philippines

“We will share CID’s findings to help speed up recovery of remaining $66 million, but won’t share the findings of Farashuddin’s heist report with Philippines,” Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune over phone. He said: “Bangladesh will time to time share the findings of CID investigation to speed up recovery of the stolen money.” Philippines Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, however, during a meeting last week in Manila with a Bangladesh delegation led by Minister of Law Anisul Huq, said Manila "strongly recommended" Dhaka share the results of its investigation. CID sources said the investigation into the BB reserve heist has seen no progress in last few months as the law enforcers of several other countries are taking much time to respond to CID’s queries. “Last October, officials of six countries sat in a meeting – arranged by Bangladesh Police and Interpol – in Singapore to discuss the much-hyped digital heist but the outcomes are not satisfactory,” said a CID official requesting anonymity. “Prior to that meeting, the CID officers held two other meetings in the Philippines and USA with officials of 11 countries. The next meeting is likely to be held in Dhaka in December,” he added. Two days ago, Finance Minister AMA Muhith categorically rejected the idea of sharing the probe report of BB reserve heist with the Philippines authorities or Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), arguing that “it is an internal matter”. 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 $15million 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.