Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Two officials of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) is going to Manila again on Saturday to help the Bangladesh ambassador to the Philippines in recovering the $81 million stolen from its account through a cyber heist.
“The officials are likely to stay one week in Manila for providing different supports to the ambassador for expediting the overall recovery process of the stolen money from the Philippines,” a BB senior official told BBN in Dhaka.
Currently, the central bank is maintaining close contact with Bangladesh Ambassador to the Philippines Major General John Gomes (Retd.) for getting up-to-date information about the money-recovery process taken by the Philippines authorities concerned.
The central banker also said the BB is now exchanging information relating to the cyber heist with its counterparts in the Philippines for recovering the stolen fund.
“We’ve also sought co-operation from different international organisations including the Egmont Group to recover its stolen money,” the BB official explained.
He also said two officials visited the Philippines in mid-February to track down the stolen money and take immediate actions for recovering the fund.
The cyber fraud took place on the night of February 4, sending a total of 35 transfer orders into the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York where the BB maintains a foreign exchange account.
Nearly $20 million of the $101 million siphoned off was recovered from Sri Lanka. The lion’s share of the booty landed in the Philippines and that is reported to have been splurged on gaming stakes in casinos.
BBN/SSR/AD