Recovery of another $29m likely

Bangladesh Bank is likely to get back another $29 million of its stolen funds from the Philippines, Governor Fazle Kabir said yesterday.

"We are in a very good position to get back the amount," Kabir told reporters after announcing the monetary policy for the second half of the fiscal year at the Bangladesh Bank headquarters.

The governor said a regional trial court in the Philippines gave a verdict in favour of Bangladesh for the sum, which also went to a casino.

But the Court of Appeals set aside the regional court's judgment.

Later, Bangladesh moved to the Supreme Court, which has stayed the appeals court's order, according to Kabir.

"It takes time to recover the money as it is under judicial process." Unknown hackers stole $101 million from the BB's account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February last year.

Of the amount, $81 million was transferred to the Philippines and another $20 million to Sri Lanka.

But the transfer of $20 million to Sri Lanka failed because of a spelling mistake by the hackers. So far, the BB has managed to recover $15.25 million from the Philippines in addition to the $20 million from Sri Lanka.

Kabir also briefed how the government and the BB have been trying to recover the stolen funds.

A high level delegation led by Law Minister Anisul Huq called in to the Philippines to discuss and expedite the recovery through legal assistance, he said, adding that BB officials visited the Philippines several times as well.

The governor also said the Department of Justice and Anti-Money Laundering Council of Philippines are dealing with the issue.