Hossen Sohel of DOT
The Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has hired top US law firm Quinn Emanuel to defend the lawsuit filed by Bangladesh Bank with a New York court over the cyber heist of its reserves in which $81 million was stolen nearly three years ago, reports The Daily Star.
The Philippine bank revealed this in a stock exchange filing today.
“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,” Tai-Heng Cheng, Quinn Emanuel’s lead attorney to the case, was quoted as saying in the filing.
“This is nothing more than a thinly veiled PR (public relations) campaign disguised as a lawsuit. Based on what we have heard this suit is completely baseless. If the Bank of Bangladesh was serious about recovering the money, they would have pursued their 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,” Cheng said, reports the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“A review of the facts shows that Bangladesh Bank’s errors, omissions, and lapses in security protocols are 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,” the legal counsel for RCBC also said.
“RCBC had nothing to do with the theft of the funds and has 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 added.