Report on BB heist put on hold for the sake of probe: Minister

February 19, 2019, 10:56 PM
by

UNB News
Publish- February 19, 2019, 10:56 PM

Report on BB heist put on hold for the sake of probe: Minister

Dhaka, Feb 19 (UNB) – Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday told Parliament that the probe report of the Dr Farashuddin-led committee on the reserve heist of Bangladesh Bank is not disclosed for the sake of ongoing investigation by CID.

“The investigation process of CID is still going on. So, the report of Dr Farashuddin is yet to be disclosed so that it doesn’t influence the criminal investigation process (of CID),” he said in his statement delivered under section 300 of the rules of procedure in the House.

Noting that a USA legal firm, on behalf of Bangladesh, filed a case with a US court in January last, the Finance Minister said the process of recovering the rest of the stolen money is still going on. “I’ll inform the House through you (Speaker) in case of any progress in this regard,” he added.

Mustafa Kamal said it is unfortunate that international hackers stole US$ 101 million to Sri Lanka and the Philippines from Bangladesh's central bank account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York through their five false payment instructions in January 2016.

Immediately after the incident, the government took all possible measures to recover the stolen money, identify the persons and organisations involved in the cyber heist, and prevent the recurrence of such incidents, he said.

In continuation of this process, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh Police was given the responsibility for further investigation into the incident, he mentioned.

Bangladesh recovered US$ 20 million of the stolen money from Sri Lanka and brought back US$ 14.63 million from the Philippines, Mustafa Kamal said adding that the government’s activities to bring back the remaining US$ 66.37 million stolen money are going on.

Noting the cyber heist is an international criminal activity, the Finance Minister said several overseas organisations were involved in it. With this consideration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the USA and the Philippines government started investigation into the incident on request of the Bangladesh government, he said.

FBI has already filed a case with the US court against the hackers, while a case has been lodged in the Philippines against those involved in the money laundering activities, he added.

Having sufficient evidence from the FBI and the Philippines, Bangladesh appointed an US legal firm in June 2018 to file the case with the US court in the cyber heist.