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
