Philippines appeals against Bangladesh verdict in reserve theft case

The court of New York has already canceled the application filed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) of the Philippines to cancel the case of theft of Bangladesh Bank's reserves. The bank has appealed against that decision.

The last judgment given by the New York District Court on January 13 said that Rizal Bank was an intentional connivance in the theft of Bangladesh Bank's reserve money from the bank in New York. Without the help of the accused officials of Rizal Bank's New York account and Philippine branch, there was no chance of this money going anywhere else from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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At this time, the court ordered the defendants to submit their reply by February 2. In addition, mediation is also directed in this regard.

Rizal Bank authorities announced to continue legal fight against that order. Reuters published their appeal on Friday (January 20).

On the night of February 4, 2016, 8 million 10 million US dollars were stolen from Bangladesh Bank's reserves in the New York bank. The money laundered through computer hacking initially went into 4 fake accounts at Rizal Bank in Makati, Philippines. Then the hackers quickly withdraw this money from that place. One and a half million dollars have been recovered with the cooperation of the US intelligence company FBI. A New York lawyer sued to recover the remaining money.

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On January 31, 2019, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York or the Federal Philippines filed a case against 20 people and institutions, including the private sector Rizal Bank, in connection with the theft of Bangladeshi reserves kept in the United States bank. Later six people and organizations including Rizal Bank applied to cancel the case. After the legal process, the Federal Court on March 20, 2020 abandoned the appeal to cancel the case and ordered the case to be handled in the State Court instead of the Federal Court. After that six defendants including Rizal Bank applied for cancellation of the case in the new court. Their application was heard in more than one round.

Finally, on January 13, the Supreme Court of New York ruled in favor of Bangladesh.