Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said Bangladesh’s diseased central bank needs to be reformed, as the government reels from the effects of one of the most spectacular bank robberies in history.
“Bangladesh Bank is not in a healthy condition. It needs to be reformed. That is my assessment,” he said to journalists following a meeting of the cabinet purchase committee at the Secretariat.
The finance minister’s comments came against the backdrop of one of the biggest bank heists in history, in which hackers siphoned off $101 million of Bangladesh Bank (BB) money held with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
“Unfortunately nobody knew about the BB cyber heist,” he said.
In reply to a query about making former banking secretary Aslam Alam an officer on special duty, he said the official was not involved in the case, but added that as secretary of the banking division he should have known about it.
Since Philippine media outlets broke the story, over a month after the theft had taken place, the government has been desperate to make head or tail of the situation.
Most recently, an inquiry committee headed by ex-central banker Mohammed Farashuddin has been formed to probe the theft. The probe committee chairman is expected to meet the finance minister in a day or two.
On Tuesday, the government sacked two deputy governors of the bank over the bank heist.
Atiur Rahman resigned as Bangladesh Bank governor the same day.
Fazle Kabir, a former finance secretary serving as Sonali Bank chairman, has been made the new governor of Bangladesh Bank. He is scheduled to take the reins of the central bank on March 19 after returning from a trip to the United States.
“We have started the process of appointing new deputy governors. This is a lengthy process because a search committee must be formed to select candidates for the posts,” Muhith said.
On February 4, hackers fraudulently instructed wire transfers of more than $101 million from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and had the money sent to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Some $20 million bound for Sri Lanka has been recovered.
The lion’s share of the spoils, some $81 million wired to the Philippines, has mostly exited the banking system and is being tracked down. It is not clear how much of it will be recovered.
On February 29, the Philippines Daily Inquirer broke the story of a $100m digital robbery of Bangladesh Bank money.