Reserve heists case: Charge sheet in one to two months: CID

Staff Reporter :
Mohammad Ali Mia, Additional Inspector General of Bangladesh Police and Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), has stated that the charge sheet in the case concerning the Bangladesh Bank reserve heist is anticipated to be submitted within the next one to two months.

The CID chief expressed this expectation while addressing reporters after an event at the CID headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday.

The infamous cyber attack occurred on February 4, 2016, when hackers breached the central bank’s system, generating 70 fake payment orders amounting to $1.94 billion to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

While the Fed’s security system flagged the payment orders, only five of them were executed, resulting in the release of $101 million.

Following the incident, on March 15, 2016, Joint Director of the Accounts and Budgeting Department of Bangladesh Bank, Zobayer Bin Huda, filed a case with the Motijheel Police Station under money laundering prevention laws.

Subsequently, on March 22, 2016, Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mahbubur Rahman granted permission for the CID, the investigation agency in the case, to conduct forensic tests on the hard disks of three Bangladesh Bank computers.

These hard disks were seized from Bangladesh Bank after the heist occurred.
A significant portion of the stolen funds, approximately $81 million, was transferred to accounts in the Manila-based RCBC, before disappearing into the casinos of the Philippines.

To date, Bangladesh has managed to retrieve $15 million from RCBC and recovered an additional $20 million sent to a bank in Sri Lanka.

Furthermore, on February 1 of last year, Bangladesh Bank filed a lawsuit against Rizal Bank in a US court to recover $66 million of the stolen funds.