Staff Reporter :
Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said that action will be taken against Bangladesh Bank (BB) for not informing the government formally about the bank’s $101 million cyber heist.
“BB has showed audacity by not informing the scandal to the government in time. Even, it took too much time to inform the ministry about the fund hacking,” Muhith told this to the reporters at his ministry office on Sunday afternoon.
“I will talk with the Prime Minister in a day or two in this regard and action will be taken,” he said.
Muhith also said that the way Bangladesh Bank is handling the matter has exposed the inefficiency of the bank.
Earlier in the day, Finance Ministry officials sat in a closed-door meeting with BB officials to discuss the issue.
After the meeting, Bank and Financial Institutions Division Secretary M Aslam Alam told reporters that he was also unaware of the cyber heist.
“We had two meetings, but the officials never came up with this information,” he said.
Expressing disappointment at the activities of the BB, M Aslam Alam said, the bank authorities had failed to handle the issue professionally which raised question about their efficiency in running the central bank.
Commenting on the cyberheist, he said, the central bank’s lacking in IT security led to the hacking incident.
“We will hold an emergency meeting with the central bank’s board members on Tuesday regarding this issue,” he added.
Around $101 million was taken away by hackers from a BB account maintained with Federal Reserve Bank in New York.
The Secretary also said that Philippines has refunded a total of $68,000 to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) from the $81 million which was transferred to the country after hacking the BB’s reserve account held in US Federal Reserve.
About $68,000 has been refunded form Philippines while Sri Lanka has refunded to the BB’s account in US Federal Reserve the total $19.99 million which was transferred to the country.
“Bangladesh Bank took too much time to inform the ministry about the fund hacking. It also did not inform the matter to the board meeting and the audit committee. But it should clear the matter,” he added.
When asked, BB Deputy Governor Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan said that details in this regard will be informed soon.
