Bangladesh team in Manila says close to recovering fraction of heist money

Manila

A BANGLADESH central bank team visiting Manila to recover US$81 million stolen from its account in New York said it was close to getting back US$15 million of the loot frozen by the Philippines, but first it has to prove ownership of the cash to its hosts.

Cyber criminals tried to steal nearly US$1 billion from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February, and succeeded in transferring US$81 million to four accounts at Manila's Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), which was then laundered through the city's casinos, according to investigators.