RCBC says Bangladesh central bank must disclose findings on $81m theft

December 12, 2017

Last year's theft of $81 million of Bangladesh's central bank's (BB) funds was an inside job and BB is maligning Rizal Commercial and Banking Corp (RCBC) and refusing to divulge its findings, a statement by the Philippine bank said Tuesday.

RCBC said the BB had been asked to share the result of investigation. Instead, BB has been coming out with empty sound bites like "wiping out RCBC" which, coming from a Bangladeshi finance minister, is "extremely irresponsible", RCBC added

"At least from five reports -- SWIFT; FireEye, an international cyber security outfit; Bangladesh's own finance minister; its government-appointed panel; and a Bangladeshi expert -- point to a conclusion that somebody inside BB would have made the heist possible," RCBC said.

In February 2016, around $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York made its way to  RCBC where it was deposited in five accounts, later found fake.

The Department of Justice recommended the indictment of an RCBC branch manager and of a foreign exchange remittance firm for their alleged role in laundering. Around $15 million of the amount has been returned by a Chinese businessman to Bangladesh Bank and the rest has yet to be found.

It was also reported that BB had no firewall to protect its system and used second-hand $10 switches, making itself vulnerable to hackers. In January, the hackers also did trial runs but apparently BB did nothing to protect its system.

"Bangladesh police investigated some BB people but only for negligence. Up to now, we do not know if anybody has been taken to court," RCBC said. DMS