Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has given a commitment that $81 million stolen by cyber criminals from the account of Bangladesh Bank in New York and funneled through bank accounts in Manila would be returned, the Bangladesh ambassador to the Philippines said on Friday.

A Bangladesh central bank team visiting Manila to recover the money said earlier on Friday that it was close to getting back $15 million of the loot frozen by the Philippines.

Cyber criminals tried to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Manila’s Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

The money was then laundered through the city’s casinos, according to investigators.

Only about $18 million, including $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines’ casino regulator, has been accounted for.

The Philippines’ Department of Justice has asked the Bangladesh Bank delegation to file a legal document staking its claim to $15 million of that, but the casino money will have to be pursued separately, said two sources close to the visiting team.

“We are very hopeful that we will get the total $81 million,” said Ambassador John Gomes, who is helping the bank representatives on a four-day visit to Manila ending Friday.

“The reason is I got a commitment from the president himself,” he said.

He added Bangladesh’s finance minister might come to the Philippines to meet Duterte to help in the recovery of the money.

Gomes said the bank felt RCBC should be held responsible because it did not follow a stop-payment request from Bangladesh Bank, and its lawyer Ajmalul Hossain said it would sue RCBC if it was not able to recover the entire $81 million.