‘BB, stumbling block to recovery of stolen funds’

The $81-million cyber heist will not come to a significant conclusion unless Bangladesh Bank resumes its internal investigation, says a Filipino newspaper.

The February 2016 incident of online theft of the BB money deposited with the New York Federal Reserve, rocked Bangladesh and the Philippines banking system.

The Standard reported on Wednesday that recent developments suggested an inferior internal system led to a breakdown in the security of the funds held and managed by the Bangladesh Bank.

‘The central bank of Bangladesh, in a way, is the biggest stumbling block to the recovery of the stolen funds,’ said the newspaper in an analytical report titled ‘Bangladesh Bank should blame itself.’

It referred to Bangladesh ambassador to the Philippines, John Gomes’, discussions with local authorities about the return of the money of BB’s foreign reserves.

‘But he and his nation will not be able to unlock the mystery in the absence of a thorough investigation,’ the newspaper insisted.

Quoting a ‘very reliable source,’ the report mentioned that the brother of a high Bangladesh Bank official was the one in custody of the codes to the bank computers when it was hacked.

The revealing information partly led to the resignation of the then BB governor, Atiur Rahman.

‘Then BB aborted its internal investigation. So it has no report to share with the world, its people, and the Philippine government,’ the report quoted one banker as saying.

It said, had the bank installed enough firewalls and used quality instead of $5 switches, the heist would not have occurred.

The Standard also quoted an RCBC external legal counsel, Thea Daep, who said, ‘They [BB authorities] stopped their investigation and then their ambassador here, John Gomes, started claiming it was an outside job. But their finance minister said it was an inside job.’

The finance ministry earlier formed an investigation committee headed by former BB governor Mohammad Farashuddin.

The report is likely to be published later this month, according to finance minister, AMA Muhith’s public statement.