The Bangladesh government has decided to lodge a case against Philippine’s Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC). Finance Minister AMA Muhith said: “We will discuss the case with Bangladesh Bank. We want to wipe out Rizal Bank from earth.” The minister made the remark on Saturday during the inauguration of the annual meeting of the Zoological Society of Bangladesh.

He said: “We previously discussed the matter of recovering the money with the Philippine government multiple times. We were assured that the money will be returned but they are lingering on it. That is why we are thinking about lodging a case.”

In November, Bangladesh Bank and New York Federal Reserve officials discussed legal action against RCBC through a conference call.

In February 2016, hackers stole over $80 million from the New York Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) account of Bangladesh Bank. The stolen money was sent to the RCBC by a false order through the swift system, and was later lost in casinos of the country. Around $20m, which was first sent to Sri Lanka, was returned to the bank. Meanwhile, $14.63m sent to the Philippines was also deposited to the Bangladesh Bank account.

Bangladesh has so far failed to identify the criminals. The Department of Justice in the Philippines has been providing required legal assistance to Bangladesh in recovering the money at the latter’s request. The department also lodged a criminal case against seven people for their alleged involvement.