Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas was ordered to return to Bangladesh government the stolen money from the country’s bank account.
The Central Bank of Bangladesh may soon receive the portion of the $81 million that was stolen and subjected to money laundering in the Philippines, discovered earlier this year.
This was after the order of the regional trial court to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) after the hackers succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. in Makati City, but it was discovered and was subjected to Senate investigation.
The court ordered the Central Bank to return to the Bangladesh central bank a recovered portion of the $81 million that was stolen from the bank earlier this year.
The report was confirmed by a government lawyer to Reuters.
According to Ricardo Paras III, chief state counsel of the Department of Justice of the Philippines, the court has declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the funds, totaling $15 million.
On May this year, Philippine Senate ended its investigation into the laundering of $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve in New York.
Unknown hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank in early February.
During the hearing, a casino junket operator claimed to have received $35 million of the stolen funds but only returned $15 million. It is not clear what happened to the remainder of the money.
Kim Wong turned over $15 million to the Anti-Money-Laundering Council. Mr. Wong had received part of the $81 million that was transferred into accounts under fictitious names in a Philippine bank, and eventually to casinos.
Bangladesh had to file a petition staking its claim to the money before it could be turned over to them.
“(The) court ordered the release of the cash now in the BSP vault in favor of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,” Paras added.
Bangladesh is also seeking to recover another $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines’ casino regulator.
Wong is facing a criminal complaint for allegedly violating laws against money laundering. He has denied doing anything illegal, saying he didn’t know the money was stolen. He has said he returned the funds to show his innocence.
