Staff Reporter :Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor resigned on Tuesday after hackers stole over $100 million from the bank’s account maintained with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in one of the biggest cyber heists in history that has embarrassed the government.Atiur Rahman, 64, resigned after a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.Former finance secretary Fazle Kabir will replace Atiur.Soon after resignation of BB governor, the government asked two Deputy Governors to resign over the cyber heist issue from the bank’s account with Federal Reserve Bank of New York.”Atiur tendered his resignation to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and she had accepted it,” Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told The New Nation on Tuesday noon.He said that Atiur Rahman met Sheikh Hasina in her office in the morning and handed over his resignation letter.Atiur was appointed the Governor of Bangladesh Bank seven years ago. His tenure was set to end in August this year. Earlier in the morning, an emotional and apparently distressed Atiur told the newsmen that he was ready to quit for the sake of the country.The ex-BB governor had been massively criticized for keeping the government in the dark about the cyber heist for more than a month.Questions were raised over Atiur’s decision to travel to New Delhi to attend an event of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at a time when mysteries around the cyber theft were unfolding. The ex-BB governor went to the Indian capital on March 10 to attend a three-day meeting of the IMF and returned to Dhaka on Monday noon. Atiur was supposed to meet Finance Minister AMA Muhith immediately after his return. But the meeting didn’t take place as the BB chief was “tired,” said a BB official.On Monday, the BB governor faced criticism from government high-ups, including Muhith and a number of ruling party leaders for “incompetently handling” the cyber theft.Muhith was furious and hinted that the top management of the BB might witness changes because of the fallout of the theft.”We are going to make a major decision,” he told reporters on Monday in the secretariat when asked whether the government would take any action against the BB.”I have asked him to resign and he has done it,” Muhith told reporters, referring to the BB governor’s resign.He said that the government on Tuesday decided to appoint former finance secretary and incumbent chairman of state-run Sonali Bank, Fazle Kabir, the new BB Governor.”Fazle Kabir is now in New York. He will join as the central bank governor next week,” the minister said.Earlier on Sunday, Muhith publicly vented his anger at the BB for keeping him in the dark for more than a month about the theft and said he would take action against the BB. “I am very unhappy about the handling of the matter by the Bangladesh Bank very incompetently,” he said.The hacking took place on the night of February 4, using information stolen through the malware, which sent a total of 35 transfer orders to the NY Federal Reserve Bank where the BB maintains an account. Meanwhile, the government has asked two Bangladesh Bank’s (BB’s) Deputy Governors to resign over the cyber heist issue from the bank’s account with Federal Reserve Bank of New York.Finance Minister AMA Muhith made the disclosure to the reporters at the Planning Commission on Tuesday afternoon hours into Atiur Rahman’s resignation as the central bank governor.When asked, he said, the two Deputy Governors, who have been asked to resign, are Abul Quasem and Nazneen Sultana.When contacted, Abul Quasem told The New Nation on Tuesday night that he was unaware about the move. The other Deputy Governor, Nazneen Sultana, could not be reached over her mobile phone. In another move, the government the same day made the Banking and Financial Institution Division’s Secretary M Aslam Alam an OSD, a status that leaves him without a portfolio.Earlier, Alam told reporters that he was unaware of the BB’s cyber heist. Finance Minister on Monday said that major changes to central bank’s management are waiting as the cyber heist created much displeasure to the government.
