DHAKA: Bangladesh’s central bank said Monday that part of almost $100 million allegedly stolen from a reserve account in the United States last month has been recovered.

Suspected Chinese hackers stole the money from the foreign exchange account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Feb 5, according to a central bank official and media reports.

Some of the money was then illegally transferred online to the Philippines and Sri Lanka, the central bank official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“Part of the money hacked from Bangladesh Bank’s account in a bank in the United States has been recovered,” the bank said in a statement, without disclosing the amount found.

“Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit is in contact with the anti-money laundering authorities of the Philippines to track down and bring back rest of the money,” it added.

Philippine authorities have frozen the recovered money following court orders, Bangladesh Bank said.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2016