Cyber heist: Bangladesh Bank to file case with NY court by Jan

Bangladesh Bank will file a case with a New York court by this month over the cyber heist of its reserves in which $81 million was stolen nearly three years ago.

“A case will be filed with New York court by this month to recover the stolen money of the Bangladesh Bank,” Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said while talking to journalists at the Secretariat in Dhaka today.

In February 2016, unknown criminals used fraudulent orders on the SWIFT payments system to steal $81 million from the BB's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in one of the world's biggest cyber heists.

Replying to a query, the minister said the lawyers of Bangladesh and United States will finalise the names who will be made accused in the case. 

The minister held the meeting with a high-powered committee comprising BB and government officials, who went to the US to decide how to proceed with filing the case against individuals or groups involved in the heist to recover the funds.

The team includes Md Ashadul Islam, secretary of the banking division, and Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan, chief of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit.

According to US laws, money-laundering cases have to be filed within three years of the crime being committed. This meant the case against the Fed would have to be filed with a New York court by this January.

Source: thedailystar