'One step closer' to recovering stolen funds: BB

The New York State Supreme Court's recent ruling in favour of the Bangladesh Bank has brought the country "one step closer" to recovering the stolen funds from the people responsible, according to the central bank.

On February 5, 2016, hackers stole $101 million from the BB's account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York using fake orders through the SWIFT payments system.

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Of the amount, $81 million was transferred to four accounts of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in Manila of the Philippines and $20 million to Sri Lanka's "Shalika Fundation" through Pan Asia Banking Corporation.

The BB filed a lawsuit with the US District Court in Manhattan in 2019, accusing RCBC of being involved in a massive conspiracy to steal the money. The original complaint in the New York state court was filed on May 27, 2020.

On February 29 this year, the First Appellate Department of the New York State Supreme Court ruled in BB's favour, the central bank said in a press release.

The decision confirmed that New York would be the venue for litigation against RCBC and its employees and casino junket operator Kam Sin (Kim) Wong's theft of the BB fund, it said.

The decision also affirmed the trial court's decision that RCBC, along with its two most senior executives -- Lorenzo Tan and Raul Victor B Tan -- and Kim Wong could be held liable in New York courts for their involvement in the theft.

"Bangladesh Bank is considering its further response to the First Department decision, including but not limited to its own appeals or responses to any appeal by the remaining RCBC defendants and Kim Wong, and looks forward to pressing forward in the ongoing discovery process in the trial court," said the BB.

The court also ruled that the BB may pursue the defendants for the money they controlled whilst they knew full well that they were the bank's stolen funds. Still, they allowed the money to be laundered through foreign exchanges and the RCBC Treasury, rather than responding to the BB's stop payment request and returning the funds.

"This decision supports the Bangladesh Bank's decision to pursue these alleged co-conspirators in New York, and the Bangladesh Bank welcomes the opportunity to demonstrate that RCBC was involved from the very beginning," the press release said.

The Sri Lankan bank that received that payment order flagged it because it misspelled the word "Foundation" as "Fundation" and the money had been returned to Bangladesh.

A portion of the funds that ended up in Manila has also been recovered.