Philippines ‘playing’ with returning stolen Bangladesh Bank funds, says state minister for finance

State Minister for Finance MA Mannan appears irked over ‘conflicting statements’ by Philippines on returning the stolen Bangladesh Bank funds lost in a cyber heist.

“First they say it can be returned tomorrow, then they say it will take time.

“I suspected (something is not okay) from the beginning and I still believe they are playing with us,” he told a pre-budget discussion on Sunday with newspaper editors.

He, however, somewhat backtracked saying it was not ‘intentional’ and that the Philippines ‘system is like that’.

Mannan said that Dhaka is in constant touch with Manila over the matter.

The chairman of Philippines Senate said recently that they hope to start the process to hand over of the funds so far recovered by June 30.

In February this year, $81 million of Bangladesh Bank funds with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York were wired to bank accounts in Philippines on fake transaction advisories.

The money then found its way to the casino operators in the Southeast Asian country.

The country’s Anti Money Laundering Commission, probing the case, initiated a court case, paving the way for handing over the money.

Replying to a query on Bangladesh’s initiative on the matter, Mannan said, “I think some Bangladesh Bank officials are now in New York, Colombo and Manila, talking to concerned authorities.” 

Another transfer advice for $20 million was made in the name of a ‘fake’ NGO in Sri Lanka, but it was stopped as the hackers misspelled the name of the NGO.

Bangladesh formed a probe body led by former governor Mohammad Farashuddin, which already has filed its ‘interim report’.

Its findings are yet to be made public.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith told the media recently that they will brief the media once the full report is in.