RCBC says it's not liable to pay Bangladesh Bank

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) asserted on Tuesday it has got nothing to do with how hackers were able to steal $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank (BB) account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In that case, the lender said it has no liability whatsoever in terms of paying back the central bank of Bangladesh.

"RCBC is not the proximate cause of the theft. They have no case against us. BB was the one that was negligent. We therefore urge BB to be transparent to the Philippine government which has done so much to help them, and show us who really stole from them," RCBC external counsel Thea Daep said in an emailed statement.

The lender noted numerous reports quoting Bangladeshi officials and the initial findings of BB's own investigation indicating that hackers got help from BB insiders. "Shortly after, BB decided to abort its investigation which raises a lot of questions, to say the least," Daep noted.

The embattled lender has no plans of paying the BB any amount, the lawyer emphasized, noting that RCBC was a mere recipient of the funds that went through three layers of "highly protected financial institutions" that included the New York Federal Reserve, SWIFT and three global banks that eventually made the money transfers.

Bangladesh Ambassador John Gomes has been "unfairly using media to pressure the Philippine government and make it its own collection agent and in the process is creating an undue and unnecessary adverse public portrayal of RCBC and by extension, the local banking sector," Daep noted.

"Ambassador Gomes has blamed everybody but [BB] for its loss," she said.

She dared the regulator to produce the results of its own investigation, even the initial findings, to help shed light on who the perpetrators were. This will be critical in helping the global banking sector protect itself, she said.

"This is the least BB can do," Daep said. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News