Cyberheist: Bangladesh Bank receives $15M stolen money from PH

Bangladesh Bank—PHOTO FROM THE DAILY STAR/ANN

Bangladesh Bank authorities have accepted nearly $15 million of the $81 million stolen money from the Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Bangladesh Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes received the cash in the presence of a two-member team of the central bank’s antimoney laundering department, Bangladesh Bank’s deputy governor Abu Hena Mohammed Raji Hasan told The Daily Star.

The Bangladesh Bank delegation headed by Debaprosad Debnath, general manager of the bank’s financial intelligence unit, went to Manila on Nov. 7 to work on moving back part of the fund.

The money will be deposited into the Bangladesh Bank account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Raji Hasan said.

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 seen by Reuters.

Wong, who returned $4.63 million and P488.28 million ($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 cyberheists.

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