BB officials connected to reserves heist to face action: Asif Nazrul

Law Adviser Asif Nazrul has said many Bangladesh Bank (BB) officials are involved in the 2016 cyber-heist of the central bank and urged it to take action against employees connected with the case.

On Sunday, a review committee formed to scrutinise the incident said the investigation into the heist suffered “reckless disregard” during the Awami League regime.

 “The CID [Central Investigation Department] was instructed to not name Bangladesh Bank employees involved in the case while pressing charges,” Nazrul said.

While the CID was investigating the case, the finance ministry had appointed a committee headed by former Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Farashuddin.

 “I’ve seen the report submitted by Farashuddin. The committee has sought the names of those the initial CID report mentioned. We’ve talked about what steps must be taken,” Nazrul added.

Nazrul is the chairman of the review committee with Faiz Ahmed Tayyab, special assistant to the chief adviser of the information ministry, the member secretary. Power Adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan and Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur are among the members of the committee.

On Feb 5, 2016, Bangladesh Bank lost $81 million from its account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The transfer was traced to three casinos in the Philippines.

The Philippine government recovered $15 million from the owner of a casino and returned it to Bangladesh, but the remaining $66.4 remained elusive.

Nazrul said, “The plan was to steal $2 billion from Bangladesh Bank… a plan to loot Bangladesh on the whole. If $2 billion had been stolen, we’d likely be facing a famine today.”

In 2019, Bangladesh Bank filed a case with New York’s Manhattan South District Court in hopes of recovering the stolen money. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) appealed for the scrapping of the case.

In April 2022, a New York court dismissed Bangladesh Bank’s conspiracy charges against RCBC in April as the New York Supreme Court said it was out of its jurisdiction to take the case. Later, Bangladesh Bank said it filed a lawsuit with another New York court.

Those related to the investigation at that time believed a group from inside the country was behind the transfer of the large amount of money.

As the news of the theft spread, Atiur Rahman, the central bank governor at the time, stepped down over the heist, while two deputy governors were suspended. The top tier of central bank officials was also reshuffled.

The initial case over the heist was filed by the central bank’s Accounts and Budgeting Department Joint Director Md Zubair Bin Huda. No one was accused in the case filed under the Money Laundering Prevention Act.

The CID has time and again failed to produce probe reports, deferring hearings in the process. The investigation officer of the case has also changed over time.

On Dec 31, the Anti-Corruption Commission sent a letter to the CID asking to be handed over the responsibility of investigating the case following the change in the political landscape of the country. The CID, however, has yet to respond to the request.

Nazrul said, “I won’t disclose the names of those responsible [for the theft] right now. We’re looking into whether Bangladesh Bank is taking sufficient action to prevent such crimes from repeating.”

The adviser suspects that an overseas legal firm appointed to recover the stolen money could also have “irregularities”.

“The government then appointed several legal firms to recover the reserves money. [One of] the firms had a lawyer who was close to the previous government. This firm was paid millions of dollars. Even exchanging emails with them required payment.

“We’ve asked for a probe into what link this lawyer has with the selection of the firm in exchange for so much money. We’ll look into whether any financial irregularities occurred.”

The review committee formed on Mar 12 has been asked to submit recommendations in three months.