Muhith says final probe report on Bangladesh Bank cyber heist will be released Thursday

The final probe report on the Bangladesh Bank cyber heist submitted by a government-commissioned investigation committee will be published on Thursday, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has said.

"I will go abroad on Sep 24. The report will be published on Sep 22," he told reporters on Sunday at the Secretariat.

After the investigation team, headed by former Bangladesh bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin, handed it to Muhith on May 30, the minister had said that it would be made public after he finished ‘going through it’.

The probe committee had hinted at the involvement of bank insiders in its report.

Later, the minister had several times said the report would be published soon.

Muhith is set to leave for Saudi Arabia on Sep 24, beginning a three-week visit during which he will attend the annual conference of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC.

He will also visit the Netherlands before returning home on Oct 12.

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 by using forged commands through SWIFT Messaging system in February.

The hackers had 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, 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.

However, people in Bangladesh learned 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.

The central bank also initiated a case with Motijheel police over the heist; and on Mar 15, the government appointed a three-member probe team headed by Mohammed Farashuddin.

The committee was entrusted to look into various angles related to the theft, including tracing those 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 the Bangladesh Bank authorities, to see if the personnel of the bank were negligent in their duty and other vital areas.

The probe committee submitted the interim report to the finance minister on Apr 20 and the final report on May 30.

After submitting the report, Farashuddin had said that the team 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, the probe team chief had only 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 contained an assessment on how much money could be recovered from the theft. “We have given a much optimistic picture."

The central bank had initially said it was considering suing the SWIFT money transfer network over the hacking.

But in July its spokesperson Shubhankar Saha told Reuters that the central bank had reversed its plans and instead intended to seek help from the New York Fed and SWIFT in recovering the stolen $81 million.

The parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry recently expressed 'frustration' when the final investigation report was not published despite Minister Muhith giving assurances several times.

The parliamentary watchdog on public undertakings had also demanded release of the report.

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the Philippines had wrapped up its preliminary investigation on money laundering charges connected to the high-profile cyber heist.

Assistant State Prosecutor Gilmarie Fe Pacamara also told local media that a resolution may be issued later this month.

Amid their investigation, a casino junket operator, Kim Wong, who is directly involved in the case, had returned $15 million to the Philippines government.

Aside from that, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp until now has managed to recover $2.7 million. Total $63 million more of the stolen money is still missing.​