New team to probe if BB employees have links to cyber heist
The government probe panel has appointed a three-member consultant team to find out if any Bangladesh Bank official was involved in the $101 million cyber heist in February that sent shockwaves in the banking world.
“It is yet to be determined if anyone from within Bangladesh Bank was involved in the heist, be intentionally or otherwise,” Mohammed Farashuddin, head of the investigation committee, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith suggested that BB officials were involved in the heist, which has prompted central banks from around the globe to boost their cybersecurity measures.
“Definitely, some of our people must’ve been involved,” Muhith told Bloomberg News on April 29, without elaborating further.
In a written statement to parliament yesterday, Muhith said his government is determined to bring all perpetrators -- foreign or local -- to book.
Farashuddin said the consultant team, which comprises BUET professors, is getting to the bottom of the matter.
“As of now, there is no sufficient proof that anyone from within the Bangladesh Bank had any part. However, the consultant team is finding out if anyone was knowingly or unknowingly involved,” said Farashuddin, who is a former central bank governor.
“But it is beyond doubt that the theft has occurred from outside.”
Earlier on February 4, hackers broke into the BB’s systems and generated 70 fake payment orders for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to draw about $1.94 billion.
While the NY Fed’s security measures flagged the payment orders, five of them fell through, and $101 million against them was released. Of the amount, $81 million was wired to the Philippines and $20 million to Sri Lanka.
The BB kept the incident under wraps, and it came out in the open a month later, when a Filipino newspaper reported it.
The public uproar about the heist and the central bank’s inadequate response to it caused Atiur Rahman to resign as governor, and the government terminated the contracts of two deputy governors.
On March 15, an investigation committee was formed to examine how the cyber breach happened and the reasons for the BB's delay in informing the higher authorities about the heist.
Besides, the committee would examine the possibilities of getting back the stolen money and recommend measures to prevent occurrences of such incidents in future.
On April 20, the committee submitted its interim report to Muhith, with the final report due by the end of this month.
Neither the finance minister nor the investigation committee is yet to divulge anything about the interim report to the media.
The findings of the three-member consultant team will be slotted into the final report, Farashuddin added.
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