We will win if we file a case

The Philippines senate has fined the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) $2 million in connection with the Bangladesh Bank reserve heist. The RCBC faced the penalty for breaking laws and its involvement in money laundering.

A Philippines court has sentenced former branch manager of RCBC, Maia Santos Deguito, to 56 years in jail for the cyber heist. The court also ordered her to pay over $109 million in fine.

Earlier, RCBC chief executive resigned, taking “full moral responsibility for this sad incident in the history of the bank.”

The Philippines took these measures on their own accord, not because of any of our initiatives.

An international body earlier blacklisted the Philippines on allegation of money laundering. But we have not filed any lawsuit until now. The ffinance minister did not go to Manila even once.

It is the prerogative of the government to decide whether they would publish the probe report we submitted to or not. The report, however, clearly held RCBC responsible for the incident. The punishment of the RCBC suggests we still can win in case we file a lawsuit.

The earlier statement that we would file a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve System of New York, was a completely mistaken and false notion.

We surely will win and get the money back if a case is filed with the international court taking the help of the Federal Reserve. Only RCBC will be punished, no one of Bangladesh will be found involved in the incident as they themselves have held RCBC responsible for the cyber heist.

* Mohammed Farashuddin is a former governor of the Bangladesh Bank and head of the three-member investigation committee to probe the reserve heist. The analysis, published in the print edition of Prothom Alo, has been rewritten in English by Shameem Reza