Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh Bank (BB) didn't inform the finance minister about the hacking into part of its foreign reserves kept with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York until Monday.
"No, I did not have any report from the central bank in this regard," AMA Muhith, finance minister of Bangladesh, said while talking to a group of journalists who came to his residence on Monday afternoon to cover a meeting with World Bank (WB) vice-president for South Asia Annette Dixon.
"This is very unusual situation," said the custodian of the exchequer, but he declined to make any statement on the issue.
Around US$ 100 million worth of foreign reserves of the BB, deposited with the US central bank, was stolen by a racket of hackers of Chinese origin and transferred the money to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
The central bank of Bangladesh has already able to recover around US$20 million out of $100 million from Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is now working with its counterpart –the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of the Philippines – actively to recover the rest of stolen fund, according to the BB officials.
BBN/SSR/AD