Philippines president cancels meeting with Bangladesh team

The high-level Bangladesh team visiting the Philippines to recover the rest of $81 million could not meet President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday after he cancelled the meeting in a last-minute decision, officials said.

Duterte was supposed to meet with the team led by Law Minister Anisul Huq at 2.30pm but he had to bail out “due to pressing matters that demand the president's immediate attention”, said Ernesto Abella, presidential spokesperson, according to the Daily Inquirer and Bloomberg News.

There were reports that President Duterte “passed out” on his way to attend a meeting. The Presidential Palace denied the reports, according to the Inquirer.

Abella said the representatives of the Bangladeshi government had met with the appropriate heads of agencies to discuss their concern regarding the stolen $81 million, according to Bloomberg.

Encouraged by the recovery of a fraction of the $81 million lost in a cyber heist in February, Bangladesh sent a team to the Philippines on Saturday with the objective to repatriate about $66 million.

The team included Abdur Razzak, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Banking Secretary Eunusur Rahman.

So far, Bangladesh has managed to bring back $15.25 million.

On November 12, Bangladesh received the money in cash from the Anti-Money Laundering Council of the Philippines after a Filipino court in September ruled that the BB is the rightful owner of the money surrendered by casino boss Kim Wong and his Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company.

The money has already been deposited into the BB account with the NY Fed.

The AMLC has accounted for $60 million of the stolen money, but the other $21 million is yet to be traced.

Bangladesh is relying on a commitment made by the then Rizal Commercial Banking Corp President Lorenzo Tan that, if found liable, the bank, at the centre of the money-laundering scandal to hit the country, would voluntarily compensate Bangladesh for its losses.

 “In the Senate hearing, they had informed [the public] that if RCBC was made liable, they would take it to their board to compensate [Bangladesh] with $50 million. This amount was very clearly mentioned,” Bangladesh's Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes said in an interview with the Inquirer.

The Bangladeshi team was also set to meet the Philippines' Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr during their four-day visit.

Yesterday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the position of the Philippine government should be lauded. 

“They held investigations and are returning the money to Bangladesh. The RCBC president also said they would make sure Bangladesh gets the whole amount. I think Manila's action is most laudable,” he told reporters at the secretariat in Dhaka.

He said Bangladesh's ambassador to the Philippines attended the Senate hearing every day and gave the government good feedback. “I feel very happy.”