Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., the 10th largest lender in terms of assets, said the suit filed against it by the Bangladesh central bank in connection with the $81-million money laundering scam in 2016 is baseless, calling it a publicity campaign.
“While RCBC has not been officially notified, we are aware a complaint has been filed, and have engaged the US law firm of Quinn Emanuel for its defense in this matter,” the bank said in a statement Friday.
The lead attorney on the case, Tai-Heng Cheng, a partner at the firm’s New York office said: “This is nothing more than a thinly veiled PR campaign disguised as a lawsuit. Based on what we have heard this suit is completely baseless,” he said.
He said if the Bank of Bangladesh was serious about recovering the money, it would have pursued its claims three years ago and not wait until days before the statute of limitations.
“Not only are the allegations false, they don’t have the right to file here since none of the defendants are in the US,” he said.
“We will show that this suit is nothing more than a political stunt by the Bangladesh Bank to try to shift blame from themselves to RCBC,” Cheng said.
He said a review of the facts showed that Bangladesh Bank’s errors, omissions, and lapses in security protocols were the cause of its loss.
“We believe it is telling that they have concealed information from their own investigation and despite admitting their own culpability, continue to try to blame others,” he said.
He said RCBC had nothing to do with the theft of the funds and had cooperated fully with every investigation into the matter. “This suit is nothing more than a blatant attempt by Bangladesh Bank to shift blame and cover up their own liability,” he said.
Investigations found out that cyber thieves stole the money from the account of Bangladesh central bank in Federal Reserve in New York.