MANILA -- A US-based lawyer for the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) dubbed as a “thinly veiled PR campaign” and political stunt the case that Bangladesh Bank reportedly plans to file against the Yuchengco-led bank in connection with the USD81-million cyber heist in 2016.
In a statement Friday, RCBC said its lead attorney on the case, Tai-Heng Cheng of the New York law firm Quinn Emmanuel, noted that “based on what we have heard, this suit is completely baseless.”
He pointed out that “if the Bank of Bangladesh was serious about recovering the money, they would have pursued their claims three years ago and not wait until days before the statute of limitations.”
“This is nothing more than a thinly veiled PR campaign disguised as a lawsuit,” he said.
The lawyer also said that “not only are the allegations false, they don’t have the right to file here since none of the defendants are in the US.”
“We will show that this suit is nothing more than a political stunt by the Bangladesh Bank to try to shift blame from themselves to RCBC,” he said.
The lawyer explained that “a review of the facts shows that Bangladesh Bank’s errors, omissions, and lapses in security protocols are the cause of its loss.”
“We believe it is telling that they have concealed information from their own investigation and despite admitting their own culpability, continue to try to blame others,” he said, citing that the Philippine bank “had nothing to do with the theft of the funds and has cooperated fully with every investigation into the matter.”
“This suit is nothing more than a blatant attempt by Bangladesh Bank to shift blame and cover up their own liability,” he added.
Bangladesh Bank has yet to collect the entirety of the USD81 million stolen from its account with the Federal Reserve of New York on Feb. 4, 2016, which is considered as the biggest cyber heist in the world to date.
These funds were sent to four US dollar accounts that were opened at the RCBC Jupiter branch in May 2015 under the names of Michael F. Cruz, Jessie Christopher M. Lagrosas, Alfred S. Vergara, and Enrico T. Vasquez.
A portion of the stolen funds were eventually traced to Eastern Leisure Hawaii Company owner Kam Sin Wong, also known as Kim Wong, and Philrem Service Corp. owners Michael and Salud Bautista, whose company was tapped to remit the funds to Wong’s casino.
Wong later on returned a total of USD4.63 million and PHP488 million worth of cash to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). (PNA)
