Commuters pass by the front of the Bangladesh central bank building in Dhaka March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ashikur Rahman/File Photo

MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine regional trial court has ordered the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to return to the Bangladesh central bank a recovered portion of the $81 million that was stolen from the bank earlier this year, a government lawyer said on Monday.

The court has declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the funds, totaling $15 million, Ricardo Paras III, chief state counsel of the Philippines’ Department of Justice, said while reading a copy of the court’s ruling to a Reuters reporter.

Unknown hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila.

During a Philippine Senate hearing into the heist which ended in May, 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.

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 told Reuters.

Bangladesh is also seeking to recover another $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines’ casino regulator.</s>The court has declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the funds, totaling $15 million, Ricardo Paras III, chief state counsel of the Philippines' Department of Justice, said while reading a copy of the court's ruling to a Reuters reporter.

Unknown hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila.

During a Philippine Senate hearing into the heist which ended in May, 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.

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 told Reuters.

Bangladesh is also seeking to recover another $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines' casino regulator.</s>A Chinese EXIM Bank delegation is due in the capital soon to negotiate the financing of some important projects, including purchase of six vessels, ahead of President Xi Jinping's October tour.

 The President of China is scheduled to visit Bangladesh in mid-October before or after attending a BRICS summit in India.

 Sources said the EXIM Bank delegation, during its visit in the first week of October, would sit with ministries concerned to complete the negotiations as some deals are expected during the presidential tour of Bangladesh.

 Earlier in April, another delegation of the Chinese government's loan-providing bank, had visited some project sites, including that of Karnaphuli tunnel in Chittagong, to find potential of the projects in funding.

 They also sat with the officials concerned in doing the spadework.

 The Bangladesh Bridge Authority, which is implementing the Karnaphuli Tunnel project, signed a commercial agreement with a Chinese company last year.

 However, a letter received by the Economic Relations Division (ERD) indicated negotiations on two projects during the Exim Bank delegation's visit. These are six vessel purchases and a water-treatment project.

 It was reported earlier that a deal of US$ 6.0 billion is likely to be signed for implementing six mega projects in rail, road, port and power sectors during the upcoming visit of the Chinese head of state.

 A source said though the Karnaphuli Tunnel was one of the potential projects for getting Chinese government funds, confirmation in this regard was not yet received.

 The Bangladesh Bridge Authority signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese firm CCCC during the Bangladesh Prime Minister's visit to China in June 2014.

 Mr Xi Jinping is due in Dhaka before or after the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) Summit which will be held in India on October 15-16 as the Chinese president is also scheduled to attend the summit meet of the Beijing-sponsored bloc based on a new global bank.

 Under the deals to be negotiated in early October, China is to provide US$184.50 million in concessional loan to Bangladesh for the procurement of six new vessels for Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC).

 The Bangladesh government has cleared the project to procure the six vessels-three oil tankers and another three bulk carriers, each with 39,000DWT capacity—in a bid to enhance the BSC fleet capacity.

 Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) is to finance the construction of Dasherkandi sewerage-treatment plant. The agency estimates a cost of around Tk 3,317 crore in building the plant, on 60 acres of land in Dasherkandi, Khilgaon. The project is expected to be completed by 2019.

 smunima@yahoo.com [Read More]

 

 —–

 Source: The Financial Express
A court in the Philippines orders the central bank to return US$15 million back to Bangladesh.