Philippines reassure help to recover stolen BB money

Bangladesh’s Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes met with Philippines' Finance Secretary Carlos G Dominguez III recently. Carlos G Dominguez said: “We want to assure you that the Philippine government, including all its instrumentalities from the Central Bank, the DOJ (Department of Justice), DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) and of course the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) are 100% behind you. We want to assure you that we will do everything that we can to assist you.” In a statement, the Department of Finance (DOF) Dominguez said: “Recovery efforts would have to go through the proper legal procedures for Bangladesh’s own protection so that no other party could contest its rightful claim to this stolen money in the future.” About $15m were turned over for safekeeping by junket operator Kim Wong to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of Philippines, during the height of the senate investigation on the Bangladesh Bank heist, reports inquirer.net. The DOJ has already filed a petition seeking a nod from the Manila Regional Trial Court to forfeit the $15m in favour of Bangladesh. The DOF quoted DOJ Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras III as explaining during the meeting that the DOJ filed a petition in favour of Bangladesh on August 26, after which the Manila RTC ruled four days later on August 30 that it was sufficient in form and substance. “Under the Rules of Civil Procedure, the Manila RTC gave the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) 15 days to comment on the petition. The court will render a decision after the OSG files its comment,” Paras said. “After filing their [OSG] comment, we will now wait for the judgment of the court for the $15m,” Paras added. Paras further said: “Another P107.35m of the stolen fund, roughly equivalent to $2.3m, was voluntarily frozen by Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc (operator of Solaire casino), which could go through the same legal procedures undertaken by the DOJ in returning the $15m in favour of the Bangladesh government.” For Dominguez, another target of the immediate recovery effort is the amount of $17m, which the DOF noted that Gomes had claimed during the Senate probe was in the possession of remittance company Philrem Service Corp. The DOF quoted AMLC Executive Director Julia Bacay Abad as saying that the $17m allegedly still with Philrem was what “we’re still working on” adding that the AMLC was “looking at the assets of the firm’s owners for possible forfeiture.” “The immediate objective right now is the $15m plus the $2m. We can assist you 100% on that. The AMLC, as they mentioned, is continuing the investigation for whatever balance there is. Maybe there is another $17m, but we’re going to continue seeking that and hopefully recovering that on your behalf,” Dominguez told Gomes.