Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has launched a “coordinated effort” to recover the $101 million which was stolen in a cyber heist last month from its reserve account with the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
As part of the move, the BB authorities wrote to four international agencies requesting their action and help to get back the stolen fund, BB spokesman Subhankar Saha told The New Nation on Sunday evening.
The new BB Governor, Fazle Kabir, has sent letters to the New York’s Federal Reserve Bank, Philippines Central Bank and its Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and the Bangladesh representative in the United Nations (UN), he said.
“The Governor has sent the separate letters to the heads of the above mentioned international institutions and the UN’s Bangladesh representative seeking their help to recover the stolen money,” Saha said.
He said, the Governor in the letter to New York Federal Reserve Bank President William C. Dudley also requested him to investigate whether the US Bank had any involvement with the cyber heist.
“The letters have been issued as part of BB’s effort to recover the stolen money in a coordinated manner,” added Saha.
Earlier, Bangladesh central bank (BB) in a report criticized the New York Fed for the cyber heist saying that the US bank allowed five of 35 fraudulent payment instructions to go through.
“We view this as a major lapse,” said BB in the report.
Denying the BB’s claim, the New York Fed earlier said that it had no evidence of any breach of its systems related to an account held there by Bangladesh’s central bank.
The BB report also said that it was considering “preparing the ground to make a legitimate claim for the loss of funds” against the New York Fed “through a legal process.”
When asked, Subhankar Saha said, “BB is yet to file any lawsuit against the US bank in connection with the fraudulent transactions. BB’s enlisted lawyers are working to find out grounds for making a legitimate claim in this regard.”
On February 5, a group of unidentified cyber criminals attempted to steal nearly $1 billion from BB’s account with the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
The size of the transactions triggered concern, which led to the Fed blocking some of the withdrawal, but the thieves were able to move about $81 million to accounts in the Philippines and $20 million to a bank in Sri Lanka.
The cyber theft later led to the resignation of BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman and several other senior officials of the central bank.
The heist, which surfaced after a month, irked the government and eventually led to assign the former bureaucrat Fazle Kabir as a new Governor and major changes in the top management of Bangladesh central bank.
Regarding the steps taken by the Philippines authorities, Subhankar Saha said, the money-laundering scheme is under investigation by the country’s Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, central bank and the AMLC.
“They are serious about the case and the Philippines AMLC has already filed criminal complaints against two Chinese businessmen who were allegedly involved in laundering of $81 million BB’s stolen fund through the Philippine financial system,” he said.
Besides, he said, “The authorities of Philippines Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) also fired two of its officials for withdrawing the fund through four fake bank accounts.”
The officials are also facing probe by the country’s Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for facilitating the release of the stolen funds. It will conduct its third hearing on the money-laundering case on March 29.
The BB spokesperson also said that they have been maintaining close contact with the Philippines authorities to bring back the money.
Meanwhile, the Governor on Sunday sat for a meeting with senior BB officials to discuss and review the cyber security of the central bank after the heist.
All executive directors and general managers of the bank were present at the meeting.
