The interim government has established a high-level committee, led by Law Adviser Asif Nazrul, to review the 2016 Bangladesh Bank (BB) reserve heist. The six-member committee was announced on Wednesday via a notification from the Cabinet Division.
The committee has been tasked with submitting its recommendations within three months. In addition to Asif Nazrul, the committee members include Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, Adviser for Road Transport and Bridges, Faiz Ahmed Tayyab, special assistant to the chief adviser of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology, Dr. Ahsan H Mansur, governor of Bangladesh Bank, Ali Ashfaq, director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and Md Nazrul Huda, chairman of Rupali Bank.
The committee’s responsibilities include reviewing the progress of the investigation into the 2016 reserve theft, evaluating the government’s response, determining accountability, and recommending steps to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The Financial Institutions Division will provide secretarial support to the committee, which has the authority to add new members and convene meetings as needed.
The heist occurred on February 4, 2016, when $81 million was stolen from Bangladesh Bank’s reserves, utilizing the SWIFT payment system to illegally transfer the funds from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the United States.
