Bangladesh asks NY Fed, PH to help retrieve stolen money

DHAKA -- The new governor of Bangladesh's central bank has sent formal letters to the New York Fed, as well as central bank and money laundering chiefs in the Philippines, asking them to help recover its stolen $81 million, a senior central bank official said on Sunday.

The news came as Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the government was waiting to hear the recommendations of an investigation committee to decide whether the central bank should file a suit against the Fed after one of the biggest cyber heists in history.

Unknown hackers breached the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank in early February and attempted to steal $951 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which it uses for international settlements.

Some attempted transfers were blocked, but $81 million was transferred to accounts in the Philippines belonging to casino operators.

The central bank official told Reuters that Fazle Kabir, who became governor a week ago, had asked the NY Fed chief and the heads of the Philippines central bank and money laundering agency to assist Bangladesh in retrieving the funds.

Kabir asked the Fed to investigate if there had been any lapses or whether it had any involvement in the heist, the official said.

Kabir sent separate letters to the ambassador of Bangladesh at the U.N. headquarters, and its permanent representative, urging them to pursue the NY Fed.

The previous central bank governor, Atiur Rahman, resigned earlier this month after details emerged in the Philippines that $30 million of the money was delivered in cash to a casino junket operator in Manila, while the rest went to two casinos.

"In his letters the new governor sought all kind of help from them to retrieve the stolen money as we are following multiple efforts for the sake of the country," the official said.

Last week Bangladesh also formally sought assistance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to track down the cyber crooks.

Bangladesh has appointed law firms to weigh its options vis-à-vis the NY Fed.

"We will wait till the recommendations of the government- formed investigation committee," Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told Reuters on Sunday, referring to a three-member committee headed by Mohammad Farash Uddin, a former central bank governor.

"We will act as per its recommendations."

Earlier this month Muhith said Dhaka might resort to suing the Fed to recover the money: "The Fed must take responsibility," he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Bangladesh bank says hackers tried to steal $951 million

DHAKA - Bangladesh's central bank confirmed on Sunday that cyber criminals tried to withdraw $951 million from its U.S. bank account, as the country's finance minister said he first got to know of one of the biggest bank heists in history through the media.

Unknown hackers breached the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank, and transferred $81 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to casinos in the Philippines between Feb. 4 and Feb. 5.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the central bank did not inform him about the heist, and that he learned of it only a month later when news first appeared in the media.

"I am very much unhappy about the handling of the issue," he told reporters in his office in Dhaka.

He said he planned to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday and decide what action to take against central bank officials.

The cyber heist and its global scale has left Bangladesh officials scrambling to find answers and recover the money that was lost.

The incident has also left other banks and businesses around the world eager to learn more, so they can review their own networks for signs that they are vulnerable to similar attacks or might already have been breached.

Bangladesh Bank said in a Facebook post that hackers made 35 separate requests to withdraw money from its Fed account, totalling $951 million, confirming earlier reports.

Officials have said the account, used for international settlements, had billions of dollars.

Bangladesh officials expect that it would be difficult to recover the money that has already gone out of the banking channels.

Officials have said that the money that made its way to the Philippines was further diverted to casinos and then possibly on to Hong Kong.

After a meeting with the investigators and central bank officials on Sunday, Mohammad Aslam Alam, the secretary of the banking division of the ministry of finance, said recovery could take months.

But he added that the Philippines had managed to freeze $68,000, which Dhaka should be able to recover.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the largest opposition party, demanded the resignation of the central bank governor and the finance minister.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com