SINCE the stealing of US$ 81 million from Bangladesh Bank account with Federal Reserve Bank in New York, there is hardly any visible progress in investigation as to how the cyber thieves were able to know the highly secretive SWIFT code and the technical procedure of sending money transfer requests. It is almost certain that some people from the central bank have acted as the facilitator but CID and such other investigative bodies have so far failed to make any breakthrough to identify the culprits. Rather the probe seems to be losing steam as other issues are overtaking. The government has removed two deputy governors and some other senior central bank officials but getting closer to the main culprits is yet out of sight. We know that the two deputy governors earlier removed were interrogated on Thursday on the bank heist but what makes most people wondering is why the investigators are not calling the former governor to interrogation. The fact is that Dr Atiur Rahman as the Chief Executive of the central bank is both legally and morally responsible to answer highly sensitive questions that nobody else can do. Even the head of the government investigative committee Dr Mohammed Farashuddin, a former BB Governor has raised question as to why the central bank officials in the concerned dealing desks held the theft secret for two days. Why the Finance Minister was also left in the dark for at least one month when the governor tried to handle the issue without support from the Ministry of Finance. These are quite legitimate issues that need to be satisfactorily solved to know the real story behind the heist and the Governor is the first person responsible to answer these questions. But the way he has protected himself from all responsibilities following the resignation makes many to wonder about it. He can’t disown responsibility until the mystery has been resolved. There is a serious allegation that the central server of Bangladesh Bank was unprotected for four months prior to the bank heist and if it is true what the Governor had done all these years to protect the country’s reserves is the biggest question. The Philippines senate is holding hearing on the money heist to clear the country from being black-listed as the abode of black money. But our government does not seem to have any worry. Nobody feels responsible to explain the whole arrangement of stealing money from Federal Reserve Bank in New York.When the people, more specifically the intelligentsia, remain indifferent to national interests, then the country is taken over by the corrupt and incompetent ones.
