DHAKA, Bangladesh—Philippine authorities returned $15 million of $81 million stolen from Bangladesh’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in a February cyberheist, the first time the South Asian country has been able to retrieve any of the stolen money.

Abu Hena MohammadRazee Hassan, deputy governor of Bangladesh’s central bank, said the cash was delivered to the Bangladeshi embassy in Manila by officials of the Philippine central bank and the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Council.

“Our ambassador received the money and the amount will soon be transferred to our account at the New York Federal Reserve,” he said.

The $15 million in cash had been kept in a vault at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippine central bank, since May, when casino operator Kim Wong, whom investigators have described as a suspect in the case, turned over the cash to Manila authorities.

In September, Bangladesh obtained a judicial order from a court in Manila directing the Philippine authorities to give the money back to the Bank of Bangladesh.