Staff Reporter :
The newly appointed governor of Bangladesh Bank, Fazle Kabir, has said his first mission is to focus on repairing the damage caused by the recent cyber heist on its US Federal Reserve Bank account and to make sure such an incident is never repeated.
“Our first priority should be taking of necessary steps to repair the damages and to prevent recurrence of such incident of heist through which hackers took away $100 million from the central bank,” he told reporters at Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday after his return from the United States.
“The government, the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have entrusted me with a big responsibility, and I will try my best to fulfil it,” said the new BB governor.
On Tuesday, Atiur Rahman quit as the central bank governor amid pressure from the government after it was revealed that the bank had kept the cyber-theft of $81 million from its account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York secret from the government. The same day, Finance Minister AMA Muhith announced the name of Fazle Kabir as the successor of Atiur Rahman. He has been appointed the central bank’s governor for the next four years. Prior to his new appointment, Fazle Kabir was the chairman of state-owned Sonali Bank.
Also a former finance secretary, Fazle Kabir hoped that the inquiry committee formed by the government would perform their duty and reports would be coming out gradually.
Earlier on Wednesday, the finance minister informed reporters that the newly appointed governor of Bangladesh Bank, Fazle Kabir, will take charge on March 19 after his return from the USA.
Indicating to new governor’s priority the Finance Minister said that Bangladesh Bank`s different systems require serious reforms. “It is not in a very healthy condition. This is my assessment.”
