DHAKA/MANILA
– Bangladesh’s central bank governor has resigned over the theft of around $105 million ($US81 million)
from the bank’s United States account, as details emerged in the Philippines
that $30 million of the money was delivered in cash to a casino junket operator
in Manila.

The rest
of the money hackers stole from the Bangladesh Bank’s account at the New York
Federal Reserve, one of the largest cyber heists in history, went to two
casinos, officials told a Philippines Senate hearing into the scandal.

They
said a mix of dollars and Philippine pesos was sent by a foreign exchange
broker to the ethnic Chinese junket operator over several days, a haul that
would have been made up of at least 780,000 banknotes.

Last month, unknown
hackers breached the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank and
attempted to steal over $1.2 billion ($US951 million) from its Fed account, which it uses for
international settlements. They managed to transfer about $105 million ($US81 million) to entities in
the Philippines.

Bangladesh
Bank officials have said there is little hope of apprehending the perpetrators
and recovering the money would be difficult and could take months.

In
Dhaka, central bank governor Atiur Rahman said he had resigned to set an
example in a country where there is little precedence of accountability and to
uphold the image of the institution.

The
government also fired two deputy governors of the bank, Finance Minister Abul
Maal Abdul Muhith said, days after blaming it for keeping the government in the
dark about the theft.

Rahman’s
exit could be a blow to Bangladesh, a South Asian nation of 160 million. The
country has been aspiring to reach middle-income status, and Rahman was seen as
one of the driving forces helping Dhaka towards that goal.

Under
the former development economics professor, the country’s foreign exchange
reserves have increased four-fold to $37.5 billion ($US28 billion) and he also sought to ensure
farmers and women entrepreneurs had better access to banking services and
credit.

Rahman
defended his record at the central bank, saying he was proud of his
achievements there.

He
described the heist as an “earthquake” and said the bank had promptly
informed intelligence agencies in Bangladesh and abroad and also brought in
international experts to investigate.

FireEye
Inc’s Mandiant forensics division is helping investigate the cyber heist. The
bank has also been in touch with the Fed and other US authorities, including
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice.

TRAIL ENDS AT CASINOS

Bangladesh
Bank is also working with anti-money laundering authorities in the Philippines,
where it suspects the stolen $105 million ($US81 million) arrived in four tranches.

The
Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) said last week it was
investigating deposits amounting to just that sum, which were made at one of
its branches.

Teofisto
Guingona, head of the Philippines Senate’s anti-corruption committee, told
Reuters the transfers into RCBC were subsequently consolidated into one account
and some of the money was converted to pesos.

CCTV
cameras at the branch were not functioning when the money was withdrawn, RCBC’s
anti-money laundering head, Laurinda Rogero, told the Senate hearing.

The
president of a foreign exchange broker called Philrem Service Corp, Salud
Bautista, told the Senate that her firm was instructed by the bank branch to
transfer the funds to a man named Weikang Xu and two casinos.

She said
that $30 million went to Xu in cash. Guingona has said Xu was ethnic Chinese
and a foreigner, but he was not sure if he was a Chinese national.

A
tranche of almost $40 million ($US29 million) ended up in an account of Solaire, a casino resort owned
and operated by Bloomberry Resorts Corp . Bloomberry is controlled by Enrique
Razon, the Philippines’ fifth-richest man in 2015, according to Forbes.

Silverio
Benny Tan, corporate secretary of Bloomberry Resorts, told the hearing that the almost $40 million ($US29 million) was transferred into a casino account under Xu’s name in exchange
for ‘dead chips’ that can only be cashed in from winnings.

Bautista
said a further $28 million ($US21 million) went to an account of Eastern Hawaii Leisure Co., a
gaming firm in northern Philippines. Reuters tried several phone numbers to
seek comment from Eastern Hawaii officials but was unable to reach any.

“Our
money trail ended up at the casinos,” Julia Bacay Abad, executive director
of the Anti-Money Laundering Council, told the open hearing.

She said
her agency had frozen 44 accounts connected to the case and had requested
assistance from the FBI.

Senator
Guingona said that because casinos are not covered by the country’s anti-money
laundering laws it was not clear if the stolen funds could ever be recovered.

“The paper trail ends
there. That is the problem,” he said. “Right now we are at a dead
end.”

– Reuters