Manila, Apr 1 (IANS): Philippine authorities recovered $4.6 million, which were robbed from the Bangladeshi central bank and were on the way to being laundered in the country's casinos, the media reported on Friday.

The money is part of the $81 million that hackers diverted on February 5 from the account of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) with the US Fed, into a Philippine bank before channeling it into casinos, EFE news reported.

The money was returned in cash to the official Philippine body against money laundering, the AMLC, on Thursday by representatives of Kim Wong, a casino junket operator, who was being investigated after part of the money was traced to his bank account.

"Today Kim Wong kept his promise to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee to return the $4.63 million in his casino to the AMLC for later transmittal to the Bangladesh Central Bank," said Kim's lawyer Inocencio Ferrer.

Wong offered to turn in another $9 million that he had received for losses accumulated in the casino by one of the two bookies from China and Macau, who were identified by Kim as the masterminds of the BB heist in a statement he made before a Senate committee this week.

He said another $17 million were deposited in a money transfer service company, which was denied by the company management.