(Eagle News) — The Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. has filed a defamation case against the Bank of Bangladesh for what it said were its “baseless allegations” against the Philippine bank in connection with the $81-million cyber heist in 2016.
“It is public knowledge that 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, all with the intention of getting RCBC to pay Bangladesh Bank money that RCBC does not have in its custody or possession and which it does not owe to Bangladesh Bank,” RCBC said in its complaint filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court.
Named in the suit were Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hasan, the Deputy Governor and the Head of the Bangladesh Bank Financial Intelligence Unit and other members of the Bangladesh Bank delegation that arrived in the Philippines this week for meetings.
The filing came a month after Bangladesh Bank sued RCBC before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York over the money allegedly stolen by cyberhackers.
The money allegedly reached bank accounts made under fictitious names in RCBC’s Jupiter, Makati branch, where it was supposedly withdrawn and laundered through casinos.
In January, Maia Deguito, the branch manager at that time, was sentenced by Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 149 Judge Cesar Untalan to four to seven years in prison for each of the eight counts of money laundering she was charged with in connection with the cyberheist.
She was acquitted of one count of money laundering as the court noted the facts in this one were a “mere copy-paste” of one of the other counts Deguito had been convicted for.
Deguito was also ordered to pay $109 million in penalties.
Deguito’s camp has said they would appeal the conviction.
In a statement, RCBC said Deguito’s conviction showed the bank was “the victim” in the situation and that its former employee was the “rogue employee.”
