MANILA - Rizal Commercial Banking Corp said Thursday it "has had it" and was considering a lawsuit against Bangladesh's central bank for implicating it in an $81-million heist 2 years ago.

Should Bangladesh Bank take RCBC to court, the Filipino lender said it was "ready and prepared" to answer the charges.

• RCBC faces lawsuit over $81-M bank heist

"RCBC has had it and will consider a lawsuit against Bangladesh Central Bank officials for claiming the bank had a hand in the $81M cyberheist two years ago," RCBC said in a statement.

"We will not allow them to continue to malign RCBC. Various reports, including their own, indicate an inside job," it said.

Bangladesh Bank should instead sue its own personnel and submit results of its internal investigation to the courts, RCBC said.

"They are perpetuating the cover-up and using RCBC as a scapegoat to keep their people in the dark," it said.

Dhaka and its central bank should "come clean and give its people answers," it said.

In February 2016, unidentified hackers stole $81 million from Bangladesh Bank's account with the Federal Reserve in New York and shifted the money to 4 RCBC accounts. The money was later moved to several casinos.

The caper exposed the vulnerabilities of Philippine laws to money laundering and prompted Congress to pass a law that placed casinos under the scope of the government's dirty money watchdog.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also fined RCBC a record P1 billion.

• Congress expands money laundering laws to include casinos
• RCBC fined record P1-B over Bangladesh cyber-heist