RCBC slaps Bank of Bangladesh with defamation suit

In its statement on Tuesday, March 12, the RCBC said it filed a complaint on March 6 before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City, stressing that its reputation “has come under the vicious and public attack by Bangladesh Bank since 2016.” (File photo: Charles Pulido via RCBC/Facebook)

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has charged the Bank of Bangladesh with a defamation suit for its “baseless” accusations that the executives of the Yuchengco-led bank are involved in the $81-million cyber heist last 2016.

In its statement on Tuesday, March 12, the RCBC said it filed a complaint on March 6 before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City, stressing that its reputation “has come under the vicious and public attack by Bangladesh Bank since 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,” it added.

The local bank’s suit was served to Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hasan and the other officials who are in the Philippines this week.

It can be recalled that in February 2016, $81-million was stolen by unidentified perpetrators from the account of Bangladesh central bank at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The money was then reported to be transferred to an RCBC branch on Jupiter Street in Makati City, which was later on withdrawn and laundered through local casinos.

Last month, the Bangladesh bank filed a complaint before a United States (U.S.) court in Manhattan against RCBC over its alleged participation in the 2016 Bangladesh Bank heist

The RCBC, however, denied such accusations, saying that the lawsuit slapped against it is “nothing more than a political stunt.”

The Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 149 in January 2019 convicted former RCBC Jupiter branch manager Maia Deguito of money laundering in connection with the multimillion-dollar bank heist. She was sentenced to four to seven years in prison for each of the eight counts of money laundering and ordered to pay a fine of $109-million.

Deguito has appealed to reverse the court’s ruling.