The finance minister says they will file a lawsuit, if need be, to recover Bangladesh Bank’s money hacked and stolen last month from a reserve account in the United States.
Published : 08 Mar 2016, 07:44 PM
AMA Muhith spoke of the possible move to reporters at his office on Tuesday. Only a day before, he had told reporters the central bank did not tell him anything about the matter.
A report by the Philippines’ Daily Inquirer last week said Chinese hackers had breached the account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and stolen $100 million from it.
It also said the funds had been leaked into the Philippines’ banking system, transferred to local casinos, and moved out to overseas accounts.
Of the funds, $75 million was transferred to a bank in the Philippines and the rest to a Sri Lankan bank, the reports suggested.
On Monday, Bangladesh Bank said it had retrieved a portion of the money without disclosing how much funds were stolen or the amount found.
Muhith is unwilling to hold the central bank liable for the massive steal.
“The Federal Reserve is liable for all this. Those who handle this account, they made error.”
“They are saying that they are not responsible for it, but this cannot be true.”
“What we have gathered is that the Federal Reserve had sent a message to Bangladesh Bank, saying ‘we have got an instruction of this nature from you, please confirm’ Bangladesh Bank replied that it was false.
“But the transaction had taken place before Bangladesh Bank’s response reached them. So, the Federal Reserve in no way can deny its responsibility,” Muhith explained.
The Federal Reserve Bank, however, has denied that its payments systems were breached.
"To date, there is no evidence of any attempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with the payments in question, and there is no evidence that any Fed systems were compromised," its spokeswoman Andrea Priest told Reuters.
When asked if the government will take step following the denial of responsibility, Muhith said: “Of course. We will file lawsuit against them. We keep money with them, so it is them who are responsible for the money lost.”
He added that Bangladesh Bank can say if they will launch an investigation into the theft.
Bangladesh Bank in a statement released on Monday said its Financial Intelligence Unit is working with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of the Philippines to recover the rest of the funds.
Two Bangladesh Bank officials have already visited the Philippines and held meetings with officials of the country’s central bank for the recovery of the money.
It also said the World Bank, supported by its ‘forensic investigative team’, which is manned by a cyber expert, is also working to trace and recover the money.
Finance Minister Muhith had said on Monday that he was unaware of the central bank losing money to hackers.
Going back on the matter on Tuesday, he said: “I didn’t know anything until yesterday. I had gone to Sylhet, there I saw (Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman) left a message: ‘I am trying to talk to you’. I spoke to him later. We have spoken on several occasions since then.”