Casino junket operator Kim Wong surrendered part of the laundered Bangladesh money (worth $4.6 million (P211.6 million)) to the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC) at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), reports Manila Bulletin.

AMLC, with BSP officials and staff manually counted the cash to confirm the amount surrendered.

This could be considered the first tranche of what Sen. Ralph Recto said is an estimated $34 million, of $81 million stolen from the Bank of Bangladesh’s reserves in the US Federal Reserve Bank, that could still be recovered.

Bangladesh Bank spokesman and executive director Subhankar Saha, however, informed that the recovered money ($4.6 million) is yet to be deposited into Bangladesh’s account.

“Maybe the money is under process to be deposited. But we’re yet to receive it,” he told UNB on Thursday evening.

The central bank official noted that a two-member team of Bangladesh Bank will leave for Manila soon to assist the Bangladesh Ambassador who has been engaged in the money recovery process of the Philippines government.

Meanwhile, Wong told a senate hearing earlier this week that only $61 million of the hacked loot was used as casino money. Besides the $4.6 million returned to AMLC, Wong reportedly still has about $10 million held by his company, Eastern Hawaian Leisure Co. Ltd. that was remitted from Philrem Service Corp.

The Philippine Senate has had three hearings so far on the money laundering scandal. Bangladesh Bank has reportedly asked the BSP for help in retrieving the money.

UNB/RI