The Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has once again appealed to the New York Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Bangladesh Bank over the USD 81 million reserve heist in 2016.
Inquirer, a Philippine daily, reported that the Rizal bank made the appeal public through a news filing with a stock exchange on Friday. It said in the news filing, “RCBC filed before the Supreme Court of the State of New York its notice of appeal from the denial of its motion to dismiss."
The appeal has been made a week after the US court denied the Rizal bank’s first motion to dismiss the Bangladesh Bank lawsuit. The New York Supreme Court then cleared way for legal process under the Bangladesh Bank lawsuit to recover the stolen fund.
The US court also dismissed the other accused’s appeal for scrapping the case.
Following the verdict in the New York court, there were no restrictions to continue Bangladesh Bank's reserve heist case against RCBC and other accused. The accused were asked to respond by 2 February and simultaneously directives were issued for negotiation.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) said on 31 January 2019 that Bangladesh Bank filed a case in US District Court for the Southern District of New York or the Federal Court against 20 people and organisations, including RCBC, on charges of stealing Bangladesh reserves kept in the US bank.
Later six people and organisations, including RCBC, appealed to scrap the case.
After completing legal procedures, the Federal Court on 20 March 2020 gave directives to conduct the case in the state court instead of the Federal Court, dismissing the appeal.
Following the directives, Bangladesh filed a case anew at the New York Supreme Court on 27 May 2020. Later, six accused including RCBC appealed in the new court for scrapping the case. Hearings on their appeal were held several times.
In the verdict of the New York district court, it was said RCBC had a motivated collusion in stealing Bangladesh Bank reserve from the New York Bank.
If there was no cooperation from RCBC's New York account and RCBC's Philippines accused officials, there was no scope to remove money from New York Federal Reserve Bank.
On the night of 4 February 2016, a total of US$ 81 million was stolen from the reserve of Bangladesh Bank. The reserve was kept in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the US. The money was promptly withdrawn after it was transferred to the Rizal Bank (RCBC) of the Philippines.
The Bangladesh Bank filed a lawsuit at a New York court to recover the money three years ago. After the theft, a total of US$ 15 million has been recovered at different times so far.