Final investigation report on Bangladesh Bank cyber heist will be released in a few days, Muhith says

The final probe report on the Bangladesh Bank cyber heist submitted by a government-commissioned probe committee will be made public ‘in a few days’, says Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 11 July 2016, 11:17 AM
Updated : 18 Sept 2016, 11:32 AM

The investigation team, headed by former Bangladesh bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin, had hinted at the involvement of bank insiders in its report.
 
It was handed in to Muhith on May 30. The minister at the time had said that he would be able to make public the contents of the report after ‘going through it’.
 
On Monday, he told reporters at his ministry, “They have finalised the report. Action is also being taken according to that. In a few days’ time, I shall release the report.”
 
In an audacious bank heist using information technology, hackers tried to swindle $1 billion belonging to Bangladesh from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York using forged commands through Swift Messaging system.

The hackers siphoned off $81 million to an account in the Philippines using five messages. Another $20 million were moved to Sri Lanka through another command.

Though the Sri Lankan transfer was stopped successfully, the Philippines transfer was successful and after conversion into the local currency, the money made its way to gambling dens, making it impossible to be recovered.

People in Bangladesh could learn about the largest cyber heist in the world through reports published in a Filipino newspaper a month after the incident.

Atiur Rahman had to quit the position of governor of Bangladesh Bank after drawing flak for keeping the theft under wraps. It was followed by a major overhaul of the top brass of Bangladesh Bank.

On Mar 15, the government appointed the three member probe team headed by Mohammed Farashuddin.

The committee has been entrusted to look into various angles related to the theft including tracing the ones at whose behest the forged messages to transfer the funds were sent, to ascertain the logic behind keeping the incident under wraps for up to a month by Bangladesh Bank authorities, to see if the personnel of the bank were negligent in their duty and other vital areas.

The interim report was submitted to the minister on Apr 20 and the final report was handed in on May 30.

Having received the report just ahead of the budget for the 2016-17 fiscal, the finance minister expressed confidence that he could make the report public within the next 15 to 20 days.

After submitting the report Committee head Farashuddin said that the committee had “deviated slightly” from their initial stand declaring that no bank employee was involved in the incident.

Neither the Finance Minister nor Farashuddin divulged details as to who was involved in the theft or what punitive actions would be taken.

Replying to queries from journalists Farashuddin merely said, “SWIFT cannot evade responsibility. Whether SWIFT is mainly responsible or not is mentioned in the report. However, our future problems can be solved only in collaboration with Swift.”

He also said that the report contains an assessment on how much money could be recovered from the theft.

“We have given a much optimistic picture”, Farashuddin said.