Challenges of security in financial instituions
Bangladesh’s central bank governor resigned over the theft of $81 million from the bank’s U.S. 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.
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.
Bangladesh Bank officials have said there is little hope of apprehending the perpetrators and recovering the money would be difficult and could take months.
Under the former development economics professor, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have increased four-fold to $28 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.
CCTV cameras at the branch were not functioning when the money was withdrawn.
Salud Bautista said 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 $29 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 $29 million was transferred into a casino account under Xu’s name in exchange for ‘dead chips’ that can only be cashed in from winnings.
Casinos are not covered by the country’s anti-money laundering laws so 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.”