BB team in Manila to work on retrieving stolen money

A Bangladesh Bank (BB) team has arrived in Manila to work on retrieving its stolen money.

The $81 million was stolen from the central bank’s account in the New York Federal Reserve in February and sent to Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

The source close to the BB confirmed the visit by the central bank officials to retrieve the money. But Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Subhankar Saha did not respond to calls seeking comment, reports Reuters.

In the Philippine capital, the central bank, Bangko Sentral, directed Reuters to the Anti-Money Laundering Council, which, in turn, deflected the query to the department of justice.

Ricardo V Paras, the Philippine justice department official who represented the Bangladesh government in court, did not return telephone calls to seek comment.

A Philippine court in September adjudged that Bangladesh Bank was the rightful owner of around $15 million surrendered by casino boss Kim Wong and his Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company, according to a court order.

Wong, who returned $4.63 million and 488.28 million pesos ($10.05 million) to Philippine authorities from the millions of dollars he took from two Chinese high-rollers, has denied any role in one of the world`s biggest cyber heists.

The $15 million recovered from the total heisted is now secure in the vaults of the Philippine central bank, said John Gomes, Bangladesh`s ambassador to the Philippines, who attended a count of the money last week.

"The writ of execution that the money to be handed back to Bangladesh was already done by the court," Gomes said. "The good thing is now that the process on this $15 million is more or less completed, we will go for the rest."