Court orders CID to submit BB cyber heist report by July 24

A Dhaka court has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to submit its investigation report on the Bangladesh Bank cyber heist by July 24.

The directive came from Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Zakir Hussain after the investigation officer, Additional Superintendent Raihan Uddin Khan, failed to deliver the report on Wednesday.

The CID has taken 86 dates so far to investigate the $101 million cyber theft from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which occurred in February 2016.

Approximately $81 million of the stolen sum was transferred to accounts at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in Manila, Philippines, before disappearing into casinos there.

The case was initially filed on March 15, 2016, by Zobayer Bin Huda, Deputy Director (Accounts and Budgeting) of Bangladesh Bank, at Motijheel Police Station.

To date, Bangladesh has recovered $15 million from RCBC and another $20 million from a Sri Lankan bank.

In a related development, Bangladesh Bank sued Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in a US court on February 1, 2022, aiming to recover $66 million of the stolen funds.

On March 2, 2023, the New York Supreme Court allowed the case related to the $81 million cyberheist to proceed but dismissed several charges against RCBC and some of its executives due to jurisdictional issues.

The court dropped charges of conversion, aiding and abetting conversion, and conspiracy to commit conversion against RCBC and dismissed the case against four RCBC defendants — Ismael Reyes, Brigitte Capiña, Romualdo Agarrado, and Nestor Pineda.

The investigation continues as authorities work to bring those responsible to justice and recover the remaining funds.