PBA, Dhaka: Law Minister Anisul Huq says, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) has filed the defamation suit against Bangladesh Bank to deceive the people of the Philippines .
He said in response to a question after a meeting with Japan’s Ambassador to Bangladesh Hiroyasu Izumi at the Secretariat on Thursday.
The minister think, “To me, the RCBC officials’ conduct was not lawful. I think they filed the suit just to deceive the people of their own country,”
“The Philippines government and its Philippines blamed the RCBC for hacking to the BBB reserve. It is not defamatory if Bangladesh Bank sues them in line with the law,” Huq said.
Minister says, “I am saying this because the Philippines government and Philippines Senate blamed the RCBC for hacking. It is not defamatory if Bangladesh sues them in line with the law. “
The RCBC filed the suit at a local court in the Philippines on Mar 6 over what the BB says are baseless claims of its complicity in the 2016 cyber heist of Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves.
Last week, the RCBC filed a lawsuit in a local court accusing the BB of defamation, hitting back at what it says are baseless claims of its complicity in the world’s biggest cyber heist.
In February 2016, criminals used fraudulent orders on the SWIFT payments system to steal $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The money was sent to accounts at Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) and then vanished into the casino industry in the Philippines.
RCBC said its reputation had come under a sustained “vicious and public attack” by Bangladesh Bank. It is seeking at least 100 million pesos ($1.9 million) in damages.
“Bangladesh Bank has embarked on a massive ploy and scheme to extort money from plaintiff RCBC by resorting to public defamation, harassment and threats geared towards destroying RCBC’s good name, reputation, and image,” it said in a statement on Tuesday (Mar 12), citing the civil court filing on Mar 6.
PBA/AH
