RCBC defamation case against Bangladesh dismissed

A court in Philippines has dismissed a defamation case filed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) against Bangladesh Bank in connection with the $81-million cyber heist.

The Philippines court sent the case documents to Bangladesh Bank on June 30.

Confirming the matter, Bangladesh Bank spokesman and executive director Md Sirajul Islam told risingbd,” The defamation case filed against us by RCBC in the country's court was dismissed. The court said that the Philippine court does not have the jurisdiction to bring Bangladesh Bank under trial. They have sent the documents of the verdict to the central bank. We have received that.”

He also said that the case filed by Bangladesh against RCBC in the New York court is underway.

In February 2016, hackers stole over $81 million from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York using 35 fake SWIFT messages.

Later, on January 2, 2019, Bangladesh Bank filed the case against RCBC in US court to recover the money. The RCBC senior officials had full control over the accounts and they allowed the transactions despite knowing that huge amounts were transferred, the case statement said.