20 foreign nationals found involved in Bangladesh Bank fund heist: CID

The Criminal Investigation Department claims to have identified 20 foreign nationals involved in the $101 million cyber theft from the Bangladesh Bank account with the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

In its probe, the CID also found evidence of negligence by Bangladesh Bank officials, Additional Deputy Inspector General Shah Alam of CID (Organised Crime) told reporters at the CID headquarters in the capital yesterday.

The CID official came up with the statement a couple of days after two CID teams returned from the Philippines and Sri Lanka with their findings on the cyber heist.

The CID, which is investigating the heist, would soon hold a press briefing on the issue, he said.

Cyber criminals stole $101 million from the BB account with the Federal Reserve Bank in February. The incident came to light several days later.

Shah Alam said they would seek help from the Interpol for taking action against the foreign nationals.

He, however, refused to disclose their names and nationalities.

In response to another query, the CID official said they didn't want to reveal whether any Bangladeshi was involved in the heist for the “sake of investigation”.

He said there was negligence on the part of BB officials. The CID is looking into whether any BB official had “any criminal intention” or it was just “lack of competency".  

In the Philippines, $81 million was transferred to four bank accounts opened with deposits of only $500 each. The banks or agents concerned didn't at all comply with the money laundering act in case of transferring the stolen money, said Shah Alam.

Asked about getting back the stolen money, he said provisions of the money laundering act would allow Bangladesh to bring back the money, and the agents, who transferred the money to those accounts without following the rules, would have to pay double the amount.      

In Sri Lanka, payment of $20 million was stopped by the bank concerned, he added.