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Published : 24 Sep 2025, 03:41 PM
The deadline for the government-formed committee to submit its report and recommendations on the Bangladesh Bank reserve heist has been extended for the second time, pushing it back by another month.
A gazette notification issued by the Cabinet Division on Wednesday said the time limit for the submission of recommendations by the review committee has been extended until Oct 31.
The deadline was previously extended for the first time by three months on Jul 8, with the report originally due by Sept 30.
Following a changeover in power, the interim government formed a six-strong committee, headed by Law Adviser Asif Nazrul, on Mar 11 to review the central bank's reserve heist.
The committee includes Road Transport Adviser Md Fouzul Kabir Khan, Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, Governor Ahsan H Mansur, Biman Bangladesh Airlines Director Ali Ashfaq, and Rupali Bank Chairman Md Nazrul Huda.
It had been directed to assess the progress of investigations into the 2016 cyber heist, review the government’s actions on the matter, determine accountability, and propose measures to prevent a recurrence.
The committee was originally given three months to submit its recommendations.
On Feb 5, 2016, hackers used fraudulent SWIFT codes to steal $81 million from Bangladesh Bank’s reserves at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
In addition to a lawsuit on the matter in a New York court, a case is also ongoing in a Dhaka court.
On Sept 21, a Dhaka court ordered the seizure of the $81 million from the Philippines’s Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in connection with the incident.
Sharing the information at a briefing, CID chief Additional Inspector General of Police Md Sibgat Ullah said: "The Dhaka Senior Special Judges’ Court issued this order in response to a CID petition."
The court issued the order under the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012 (as amended in 2015), based on the information and evidence received, as well as testimony collected through mutual legal assistance from the Philippine government, he added.
The stolen funds were reportedly transferred to three casinos in the Philippines.
While the Philippine government later recovered and returned $15 million from one casino owner, the remaining $66.4 million remains unaccounted for.
Three years after the heist, in 2019, the central bank filed a lawsuit in the Manhattan Southern District Court in New York to recover the lost funds.
However, the RCBC of the Philippines sought a dismissal of the case.
In April 2022, a New York court ruled that it lacked “sufficient jurisdiction” to hear the case and dismissed it.
Bangladesh Bank later announced that it had filed a new lawsuit in a “competent” New York court.
Investigators suspected that an internal network within Bangladesh may have aided the heist.
The Criminal Investigation Department, or CID, identified 13 government officials, including former Bangladesh Bank chief Atiur Rahman, as suspects.
On Mar 15, 2016, Zubair Bin Huda, a joint director at the central bank’s Accounts and Budgeting Department, filed a case under the Money Laundering Prevention Act at Motijheel Police Station.
The case did not name specific individuals as suspects..
The CID has been handling the investigation but has repeatedly sought extensions, delaying the submission of its final report in court.
Multiple hearings have been postponed, and the case has also seen changes in the investigating officers.
Against this backdrop, the Anti-Corruption Commission, or ACC, wrote to the CID on Dec 31, informing it to take responsibility for the case investigation.
However, the CID has yet to respond.
On Aug 26, the agency requested another month to submit its investigation report to the court for the 88th time.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Zakir Hossain set Sept 26 for the report submission.
