DOJ to help Bangladesh recover $81 M

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday promised to assist Bangladeshi officials in their bid to recover the $81 million stolen by hackers from the Bank of Bangladesh and laundered in the country.

This developed as the Senate Blue Ribbon committee said it was not keen on granting the request of the Bangladesh government to reopen the investigation into the money laundering issue, saying the DOJ and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) could deal with the matter.

Bangladeshi officials led by Ambassador John Gomes met with Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to discuss the pending money laundering cases in the DOJ against former Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito, businessman and casino junket operator Kim Wong and executives of remittance firm Philrem Service Corp.

“The government will help in returning the money to Bangladesh. The DOJ will appear for Bangladesh before the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) in its effort to recover the money,” Aguirre said in a text message. 

Gomes welcomed the DOJ chief’s commitment.

“This case involving about $15 million is pending but I think within one month they should be resolving it and we will be getting back our money,” Gomes told reporters after the closed-door meeting.

Gomes said Aguirre, like other officials they met on the issue, made a commitment to resolve the case “very soon” and that “they will do everything that is required to recover the money.”

“They are very cooperative with us and I am quite pleased,” he said.

Gomes, who was accompanied by lawyer AJ Hussein, disclosed they were also planning to meet with Solicitor General Jose Calida and officials of AMLC and the BSP regarding the matter.