Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has assured Bangladesh of the Philippine government’s “100 percent support” behind ongoing efforts to recover $81 million that cyber thieves had stolen from its central bank last February.

But Dominguez pointed out to retired Maj. Gen. John Gomes, the Bangladesh ambassador to Manila, that the recovery efforts would have to go through the proper legal procedures for Bangladesh’s own protection so that no other party could contest its rightful claim to this stolen money in the future.

Dominguez said the immediate objective is for Bangladesh to recover the $15 million of the $81-M that the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila had already forfeited last July 7—subject to any claim that may be filed by any interested party—and ordered kept in the vault of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

“We want to assure you that the Philippine government, including all its instrumentalities from the Central Bank, the DOJ (Department of Justice), DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), and of course the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council), are 100 percent behind you, that we want to assure you that we will do everything that we can to assist you,” Dominguez said during a meeting with the Bangladesh ambassador at the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) office in Makati City.

Dominguez added: “We have, however, a legal system that has to be respected and this system has to be followed so that whatever claim you are awarded, nobody can challenge that in the future.”

To underscore the full support of the Philippine government for this recovery plan, Dominguez had asked representatives from the other agencies helping in the cyber-heist probe to attend the hour-long meeting.

They were DOJ Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras III, BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr., AMLC Executive Director Julia Bacay Abad, and Jeffrey Salik, director of the South and Central Asia Division of the DFA’s Office of Asia and Pacific Affairs.

Also present at the meeting with the ambassador was DOF undersecretary Maria Edita Tan.

Probash Lamarong, Second Secretary and Head of Chancery of the Bangladesh Embassy and Abu Taher Mohammed Amanullah, CEO and chairman of the East West Placement Center had accompanied the ambassador to the meeting.

In response, Ambassador Gomes thanked Dominguez. “It’s a blessing that you have been able to give us your time, especially you have brought the AMLC, DFA, and DOJ, all here. So I guess I’m surprised. I didn’t expect this, so thank you very much, sir, on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh,” he said.

The amount of $15 million came in two batches—one totaling $4.63 million and the other P488,280, 000, which is roughly equivalent to $10.61 million—that the casino junket operator Kim Wong had turned over in the course of the Senate investigation into this cyber heist.

The DOJ, represented by Paras, has filed a petition before the Manila RTC asking that the $15 million be forfeited in favor of Bangladesh.

Paras said the DOJ filed a petition in favor of Bangladesh on Aug. 26, after which the Manila RTC ruled on Aug. 30—or just four days later—that it was sufficient in form and substance.

Under the Rules of Civil Procedure, the Manila RTC gave the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) 15 days to comment on the petition. The court will render a decision after the OSG files its comment, Paras said.

“After filing their [OSG] comment, we will now wait for the judgment of the court for the $15 million,” Paras said at the meeting.

The DOJ is assisting Bangladesh in recovering the stolen funds as provided under the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crimes, of which both the Philippines and Bangladesh are signatories, Paras added.

Dominguez likewise assured Ambassador Gomes that “our legal team here [and] the AMLC, are protecting your interests in making sure that even when they turn [the money] over to you, there is no more question as to who’s going to get it.”

“So what they’re doing is that they’re protecting you, actually,” Dominguez added.

Another P107.35 million of the stolen fund, roughly equivalent to $2.3 million, was voluntarily frozen by Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc. (Solaire casino), which could go through the same legal procedures undertaken by the DOJ in returning the $15 million in favor of the Bangladesh government, Paras said.

Dominguez said another target of the immediate recovery effort is the amount of $17 million, which, according to the Bangladesh ambassador, has been pinpointed in the Senate probe to be in the hands of the remittance firm PhilRem Service Corp.

Abad said the $17 million with PhilRem is what “we’re still working on” and that the AMLC is looking at the assets of the firm’s owners for possible forfeiture.

Dominguez said: “The immediate objective right now is …the $15 million plus the $2 million. We can assist you 100 percent on that. The AMLC, as they mentioned, is continuing the investigation for whatever balance there is. Maybe there’s another $17 million, but we’re going to continue seeking that and hopefully recovering that on your behalf.”

The discussion, Dominguez learned, turned out to be a “preliminary meeting” of sort for this matter, as he was informed by the ambassador that Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith is visiting Manila on September 28 to 29.

Ambassador Gomes said his government has formally requested for meetings between the Bangladesh Finance Minister and Dominguez, the Secretary of Justice, the BSP Governor, the AMLC chief and the Senate President.

Ambassador Gomes said he was supposed to meet the previous Philippine finance secretary at the height of the controversy, but this did not push through.