Challenges of security in financial instituions<\/p>\n
Bangladesh’s central bank governor resigned over the theft of $81 million from the bank’s U.S. account, as details emerged in the Philippines that $30 million of the money was delivered in cash to a casino junket operator in Manila.<\/p>\n
The rest of the money hackers stole from the Bangladesh Bank’s account at the New York Federal Reserve, one of the largest cyber heists in history, went to two casinos.<\/p>\n
They said a mix of dollars and Philippine pesos was sent by a foreign exchange broker to the ethnic Chinese junket operator over several days, a haul that would have been made up of at least 780,000 banknotes.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh Bank officials have said there is little hope of apprehending the perpetrators and recovering the money would be difficult and could take months.<\/p>\n
Under the former development economics professor, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have increased four-fold to $28 billion and he also sought to ensure farmers and women entrepreneurs had better access to banking services and credit.<\/p>\n
Rahman defended his record at the central bank, saying he was proud of his achievements there.<\/p>\n
He described the heist as an “earthquake” and said the bank had promptly informed intelligence agencies in Bangladesh and abroad and also brought in international experts to investigate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
CCTV cameras at the branch were not functioning when the money was withdrawn.<\/p>\n
Salud Bautista said that her firm was instructed by the bank branch to transfer the funds to a man named Weikang Xu and two casinos.<\/p>\n
She said that $30 million went to Xu in cash. Guingona has said Xu was ethnic Chinese and a foreigner, but he was not sure if he was a Chinese national.<\/p>\n
A tranche of $29 million ended up in an account of Solaire, a casino resort owned and operated by Bloomberry Resorts Corp.\u00a0Bloomberry is controlled by Enrique Razon, the Philippines’ fifth-richest man in 2015, according to Forbes.<\/p>\n
Silverio Benny Tan, corporate secretary of Bloomberry Resorts, told the hearing that the $29 million was transferred into a casino account under Xu’s name in exchange for ‘dead chips’ that can only be cashed in from winnings.<\/p>\n
Casinos are not covered by the country’s anti-money laundering laws so it was not clear if the stolen funds could ever be recovered.<\/p>\n
“The paper trail ends there. That is the problem,” he said. “Right now we are at a dead end.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Challenges of security in financial instituions Bangladesh’s central bank governor resigned over the theft of $81 million from the bank’s U.S. account, as details emerged in the Philippines that $30 million of the money was delivered in cash to a … Continue reading