Bangla suspects insider role in bank heist

Bangladesh is suspecting the involvement of insiders within the central bank in the $81 million heist by hackers from its foreign exchange account in the US Federal Reserve in New York, in a scam that shocked the financial world.

“Of course, it (heist) would have never been possible unless some of the local people (Bangladesh Bank officials) were involved...the order for the transaction has to be complied with only after biometrics of six people are confirmed,” Finance minister AMA Muhith said when asked if he believed the central bank officials had any hand in the theft.

Muhith also said that he was unsure about the possibility of recovering the stolen amount. “I am not sure if the stolen amount could really be recovered, though we got back some of the amount from Sri Lanka,” he told Prothom Alo newspaper.

The finance minister's comments came as US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is expected to join hands with Bangladesh police’s Criminal Investigation Agency (FBI) in investigating the heist.

“We will hold a meeting with the FBI officials on Sunday,” CID’s special superintendent Abdullah Hel Baqui said as the agency earlier seized the central bank's computer server to scrutinise the security of the server networking system.

In a scam that shocked the financial world, unknown hackers tried to steal around $1 billion from Bangladesh’s deposits with the US Federal Reserve in New York on February 5, using information stolen through the malware.