Bangladesh should expect less than half of stolen $81M—AMLC

By Luis Leoncio

As the Senate ended its probe last week into the money-laundering case involving the $81 million that hackers stole from Bangladesh Bank (BB), the central bank of that country, Bangladesh officials kept up their demands for the return of the money. 

But despite an emotional appeal from Bangladesh Ambassador to Manila John Gomes for Manila to help speed up the return of the funds, Anti-Money Laundering Council officials said it would take some time before the funds could be recovered, so Bangladesh should be patient.

The AMLC also reiterated that nearly half of the stolen funds—or $38 million —may never be recovered. AMLC Executive Director Julia Bacay-Abad said that of the stolen amount, the equivalent of $15 million was surrendered to AMLC “for safekeeping” by junket operator Kim Wong; another P1.3 billion or $28 million was transferred to Solaire Resort and Casino Manila.

She said AMLC could not commit a date on when the $15 million now in the council’s possession could be transferred to Bangladesh. Bacay’s statement angered Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who demanded that AMLC officials give a “definite date” on when the government could turn over any of the recovered money.

“Once we recover the amount, who is vested the power to transfer the funds to an external entity? Is AMLC authorized to just issue a check and send it to the government of Bangladesh or the central bank for that matter?” Enrile asked.

Abad said AMLC could return the money even if Bangladesh and the Philippines do not have a bilateral agreement, as there are certain processes under the law that should be followed.

Enrile then turned to Gomes and asked the ambassador if he could apprise the panel of what actions the Bangladesh government made to “unravel this sordid event.” Enrile stressed that the incident happened in Bangladesh, which somehow affected the Philippines financial system.

“This scam happened in Bangladesh and it has affected the credibility of our financial system,” Enrile said. Gomes, for his part, said the Bangladesh government appreciates all the efforts done for the recovery of the stolen funds.

Gomes said a five-month waiting period mentioned by AMLC as the estimated time before the surrendered money is turned over the money to Bangladesh was “too long.” “It would be like a slap on my face,” Gomes told senators on how he perceives the litigation period before the money is returned.

“We don’t want to be kept in the dark. The whole world knows this money belongs to Bangladesh. We would like to know what happens now because the Senate is concluding its hearing,” he said.

Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, said the Senate Committee on the Accountability of Public Officials and Investigations, more popularly known as the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, held its seventh and last hearing on the money-laundering case since Congress will convene next week as the National Board of Canvassers to officially count the votes in the presidential and vice-presidential races and proclaim the winners early next month.

Last February, still unidentified hackers stole $81 million from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the US Federal Reserve in New York and laundered the loot through four Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) accounts which were then used as capital for casino junket operations.

Wong has denied involvement in the caper but he surrendered a total of P450 million, which is part of the stolen amount to the AMLC.

The case was complicated by two factors: 1) the RCBC accounts where the funds were laundered were opened using fictitious names and 2) casinos are exempted from scrutiny by anti-money laundering authorities.

Abad said the $28 million deposited in the casinos were initially frozen by the Court of Appeals but the freeze order was later lifted by the court.

It is now the subject of a petition before the Supreme Court, she said. Bacay-Abad said some $17 million is being traced since Wong said the amount is with the Philrem Service Corp., the remittance company used to convert the stolen US dollars into pesos.

“So far, we have accounted for the $60 million and we’re still looking for the remaining $21 million,” she said, responding to queries of Sen. Bam Aquino during the hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee.

Asked if the missing $21 million could also have gone to the casinos, the AMLC official said: “Supposedly, your Honor, or I think part of this was supposedly given to a certain Weikang Xu.”

“So our breakdown, $15 million was turned over by Mr. Kim Wong, that’s all, that’s it?” Aquino asked Wong.“Wala na po. Nasa Philrem po [No more. It’s with Philrem],” Wong said.