ICT Division denies any link with Tanvir Hassan Zoha

The government’s ICT Division has denied any link with Tanvir Hassan Zoha, who spoke to the media on the theft of Bangladesh Bank reserves, posing as the division’s cyber security specialist.

A media statement issued by the division on Monday said he did not work for it.

The transfer of $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank account in the Federal Express Bank of New York by hackers drew international media attention after the Philippine Daily Inquirer broke the news on Feb 29.

According to media reports, the heist was carried out by hacking the SWIFT system.

The Inquirer said another $20 million was transferred to Sri Lanka but a ‘typo’ in the ‘payment advice’ stopped the transaction.

Bangladesh Bank officials concerned learnt of the heist almost immediately but withheld the information for about a month.

After the incident came to light, Zoha talked to the media, giving expert opinion.

He said ‘payment advices’ were given to the Federal Reserve Bank by using the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) code after it was hacked.

The reports identified Zoha as the ICT Division’s cyber security specialist or cyber security wing director (operations).

One newspaper quoted him as saying, “Analysing primary database, we got evidence that the hacking took place from inside the country. Now we are checking how it happened from the local server.”

But the ICD Division said it had not constituted any committee to probe the theft.

According to its statement, the division did not conduct any investigation with any other organisation.