Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said his ministry will take action against the Bangladesh Bank for not informing the government about the bank's $101-million cyber heist, reports UNB. "The central bank has showed audacity as it didn't timely inform the government about it," Muhith told reporters at his ministry office this afternoon. Asked about the possible action against the central bank, the minister said he would sit with the prime minister in this regard and then the media would be informed about the possible action.
Hackers managed to transfer around $100 million from a Bangladesh Bank account with the US Federal Reserve Bank last month. The sensational heist surfaced after a Philippines newspaper published a report on it. Asked how he considers Bangladesh Bank’s attitude of not bringing the matter to the notice of the government, Muhith said the central bank has showed ‘audacity’ as the incident had taken place over a month back but they did not inform him immediately.
He said the way Bangladesh Bank is handling the matter has exposed its inefficiency. “I’m very unhappy about handling of the matter by Bangladesh Bank.”
He also said a full-fledged report would be sought from the central bank over such a fund heist.
Replying to another question, the Finance Minister said the whole matter turned to be a cyber crime which is not unexpected, but the cyber crime protection programme has failed to deliver.
Earlier, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla met the Finance Minister at the latter’s Secretariat office.
Meanwhile, Finance Ministry’s secretary for banking division Dr Aslam Alam has said the incident of hacking of $101 million from Bangladesh Bank's account with US Federal Reserve has taken place due to the lacking in IT security.
“I do believe this happened due to deficiency in the IT security system of the Bangladesh Bank,” he told reporters at the central bank yesterday.
The money went to the Philippines. Already, $81 million has flown out of the banking channel, Aslam Alam says. “The remaining $68,000 is currently in a frozen account.”
The banking division secretary, who is also a member of the governing body of the central bank, visited the central bank to know about the incident and report to the Finance Minister.
Bangladesh Bank totally kept its Board of Directors ignorant about the matter, Dr Aslam Alam said. “Two meetings of the Board of Directors were held on February 23 and 28. But this issue was not there in the agenda.”  
He said the Bangladesh Bank was requested to convene a meeting of the Board of Governors. “I think, this meeting will be held on Thursday, and we we’ll raise the issue at the meeting.”
The secretary said neither he nor the Finance Minister was informed even after one month of the incident. “Obviously, Bangladesh Bank should inform the Finance Minister and the Banking Secretary immediately after the incident,” he said replying to a question.
“Bangladesh Bank is now examining its whole IT system and then it’ll take its next course of action,” he said. Alam said a World Bank consultant is now working to identify whether it happened from inside the central bank or from outside. Bangladesh Bank deputy governor Abu Hena Razee Hasan said the Board of Directors will be informed why it was kept unaware of the incident.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank authorities have said they will need two more weeks to reach a conclusion in its ongoing investigation into the hacking incident that stole some $101 million from its account with the New York Federal Reserve. Central bank deputy governor Abu Hena Razee Hasan said this while briefing reporters Sunday “Still our investigation continues and it needs two more weeks to reach a conclusion,” he told reporters, responding to a query on whether anyone inside the central bank was involved or not in the heist. Hasan informed that a World Bank consultant is working with the investigators to identify anyone who may have been involved in the theft.
He also said the Bangladesh Bank management will provide clarification as to why it kept its governing body members, including the finance minister and banking secretary, in the dark over the incident till it was first revealed by the media in the Phillipines, where at least $81 million of the stolen money was routed, over a month after the money was taken out.
The cyber-theft is said to have taken place on February 4, a Thursday that was also the start of a weekend here. But Bangladesh Bank only went public with the matter on March 7, after it was flashed all across the domestic and international.