Bangladesh will press ahead with its plan to settle the reserve heist issue through discussion with the Philippines, although both sides got into a legal battle, a senior official said on Wednesday.
"Yes, if the two parties agree, the scope is always there to settle the matters out of court," head of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan told the FE.
Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is also expected to raise the issue during his meeting with the Filipino counterpart in May in the annual conference of the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Fiji.
Mr Hassan said both the legal battle and the effort to iron out the issue through negotiations will continue.
Bangladesh sued the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) of the Philippines in early February to recover reserve money stolen from its account with the New York Fed.
The case was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, almost three years after cyber-criminals stole US$101 million by obtaining backdoor access to Bangladesh Bank's (BB) network in February 2016.
In a counter measure, Rizal filed a defamation suit at a local court in the Philippines on March 6 against Bangladesh Bank for tarnishing its reputation under a sustained "vicious and public attack". It claimed at least $1.9 million in damages.
Officials said the financial institutions division (FID) under the ministry of finance recently asked the central bank to provide talking points for the finance minister's possible meeting with his Philippines counterpart.
General Manager of central bank's research department Dr Sayera Younus, in a letter, said the finance minister may request his counterpart to direct the authorities concerned to expedite the court process.
Request can also be made for considering the possibilities of the settlement with the involved agencies and individuals outside the court, she noted.
The minister also can request his counterpart for instructing Rizal through the central bank of Philippines to settle the issue with Bangladesh Bank, she said.
Currently the court proceedings in the Philippines are underway to recover $66 million, according to the letter.
The lion's share of the booty landed in the Philippines and most of it was reported to have been squandered in casinos. Later, some $15 million could be recovered from the Philippines.
In response to the mutual legal assistance request, the department of justice of the Philippines is providing support to Bangladesh to help recover the looted money, she said.
