“We cannot divulge the beneficiary due to confidentiality policy, but we will support any investigation,” Wijayawardana said.
Most of the $81 million in the Philippines is missing. Maia Santos Deguito, the manager at Rizal Bank’s branch in the Philippine financial district accused of allowing the withdrawal of the funds, invoked her right against self-incrimination in a hearing on Tuesday.
The Philippine anti-money laundering agency said Deguito allowed the funds to be withdrawn on Feb. 5 and 9 despite requests from Bangladesh to stop the transfers. Only $68,305 of the funds remained when Rizal Bank put the accounts on hold, according to the complaint.
SWIFT Response
Deguito’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, who was with her at the hearing, declined to comment, saying he hasn’t seen a copy of the complaint.
SWIFT said it was working with Bangladesh "to resolve an internal operational issue at the central bank," according to a statement last week. "SWIFT’s core messaging services were not impacted by the issue and continued to work as normal.”
A Citigroup spokesman in Hong Kong had no immediate comment. Amy Chang, a spokeswoman at Deutsche Bank, declined to comment. Calls and e-mails to BNY Mellon and Wells Fargo weren’t immediately returned.
Malware Installed
Malicious software code, known as malware, had been introduced into Bangladesh Bank’s systems in January without the knowledge of the bank’s information systems staff, according to an official familiar with the Bangladesh Bank investigation. The hackers struck the systems on Feb. 4, said the official, who asked not to be named because he’s not authorized to speak about the probe.
Atiur Rahman resigned as Bangladesh’s central bank governor on Tuesday, saying he took moral responsibility after failing to immediately inform the Finance Ministry of the theft. He denied any wrongdoing, and said he had notified intelligence agencies of the crime. Two of his deputies were also removed. Bangladesh on Wednesday appointed career bureaucrat Fazle Kabir as his replacement.