Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has assured members of a high-level delegation from Bangladesh of the Duterte administration’s vigorous efforts to help recover funds stolen by cyber thieves from Bangladesh’s central bank last February, and said the government would continue to do so by following the processes required under Philippine laws.

In a recent meeting with Dominguez, the Bangladesh delegation thanked the Philippine government for helping bring back at least $15 million of the $81 million in funds stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh Bank.

Led by Anisul Huq, the Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs of Bangladesh, the delegation expressed to Dominguez and other Filipino officials its appreciation for the legal assistance that the Philippines has provided and continues to provide to recover the stolen money.

“We have already received $15 million because of the efforts of the government and also the Senate. We’d like to express our [gratitude] and thankfulness for their efforts which has led to the recovery of the $15 million,” said Huq at the meeting held last Tuesday.

Dominguez said that he and other Philippine officials present at the meeting strongly recommended that Bangladesh share with the Department of Justice and the Anti-Money Laundering Council the results of their investigation into the cyber heist.

“There were certain judicial processes … that you had to go through to make sure that there would be no challenge to your taking the funds,” Dominguez informed the visiting delegation.

“We are pursuing the lawsuits on your behalf, actually, as vigorously as we can,” he added.

The Bangladesh delegation also included Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Ministry; Attorney General Mahbubey Alam; Fazle Kabir, Governor of the Bangladesh Bank; Md. Eunusur Rahman, Secretary, Bank of Financial Institutions Division, Ministry of Finance; Debaprosad Debnath, general manager of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, Bangladesh Bank; and Mohammad Abdur Rab, joint director of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, Bangladesh Bank.

Bangladesh Ambassador to Manila John Gomes accompanied the delegation to the meeting.

Joining Dominguez at the meeting were Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Paras, who is also the Chief State Counsel, Justice Undersecretary Antonio Kho, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla and Carlos Panes, who is director of Facilities Management and Engineering Department of the BSP.

To help speed up the recovery efforts, Espenilla requested the Bangladesh officials to provide the BSP a full report on the investigation into the cyber hacking incident to strengthen the Philippine government’s position, on Bangladesh’s behalf, in the court proceedings that aim to bring back the rest of the stolen funds.

Espenilla also assured the Bangladesh officials that the Philippines has an “effective anti-money laundering system in place” and that the BSP has already advised the parties involved to “correct the deficiencies” in their respective processes.

The Bangladesh officials, in response, said progress has been made in the investigation and that it would send the government whatever updates they have on the probe.

“We are pursuing this on your behalf and the Department of Justice stands ready to assist you,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez met with Ambassador Gomes two months ago and assured him of the Philippine government’s “100 percent support” behind ongoing efforts to recover the entire $81 million of the stolen funds from the Bangladesh Bank.

When Dominguez met with Gomes last September, he informed the Ambassador that the immediate objective of the Philippine government at that time was for Bangladesh to recover the $15 million of the $81-million that the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila had already forfeited last July 7, a goal that had already been accomplished.

During the Nov. 29 meeting, the Huq- led Bangladesh delegation thanked the Philippine officials led by Dominguez in helping return the $15 million.