Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The central bank of Bangladesh has sought the World Bank (WB) cooperation for recovering the stolen foreign-exchange reserves from the Philippines, a top central banker said.
“We’re now considering the proposals, submitted by the WB earlier, to help the central bank recover the stolen money and enhance cyber security,” the central banker told BBN on Monday after a meeting with a three-member WB team.
The meeting was presided over by new Governor Fazle Kabir where two BB Deputy Governors Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan and SK Sur Chowdhury also attended.
The WB earlier offered to help the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, with its supports and resources for stolen asset recovery and take urgent preventive measures to enhance cyber security for the central bank of Bangladesh alongside the country’s overall banking system, according to the BB official.
After occurring digital fraud, the BB had said it would follow stolen asset-recovery initiative (StAR), if necessary. StAR is a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The cybercrime took place on February 5 through sending a total of 35 transfer orders into the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York, where the BB maintains its foreign-exchange-reserve account.
Nearly $20 million of the stolen money was netted back from Sri Lanka. The lion’s share of the booty landed in the Philippines, where it is reported to have been squandered through gaming in casinos.
BBN/SSR/AD