BB likely to file case with NY court over reserve heist Thursday

Bangladesh Bank (BB) is likely to file a lawsuit with a New York (NY) court on January 30 (January 31 in Bangladesh) to recover the money heisted by hackers from the central bank’s account with Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

“All preparations for filing the case have already been taken. A four-member delegation from Bangladesh is now in New York for filing the case,” Head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan said on Tuesday.

He said the name of the defendant and the plaintiff could be known after the filing of the case.

Earlier, Finance Minister AFM Mustafa Kamal said a Bangladeshi lawyer and a lawyer from the USA are looking after the matter and they will jointly file the case.

He said the two lawyers will take decision who will be the defendant and who will be the plaintiff in the case.

Hackers stole a total US$101 million from Bangladesh’s account at the New York Fed in February 2016.

Of the amount, $81 million was transferred to four accounts at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) in Manila and another $20 million to a bank in Sri Lanka.

But the transfer of $20 million to Sri Lanka had failed because of a spelling error by the hackers. Later, BB was able to retrieve about $15 million from the Philippines.