CID team pays visit to BB HQ

Members of the high-powered committee formed by the Criminal Investigation Department visited the Bangladesh Bank headquarters yesterday, a day after the central bank filed a case in connection with the $101 million heist.

A special CID team comprising IT experts spent at Bangladesh Bank from 11am to 5pm. During the time, they collected information to understand the bank’s work flow.

Additional Deputy Inspector General Shah Alam and CID’s Organised Crime Unit chief Special Superintendent Mirza Abdullahel Baqui led the team at the central bank office.

The 20-member committee was formed on Tuesday night with members from CID’s Economic Crime Unit and Money Laundering Unit, the DMP and several state-run intelligence agencies.

They visited four departments on the second floor and the third floor of the Governor’s Building, analysed some documents from the Back Office of the Drilling Room and the sever room of the main building, and seized some other documents from the server room for scrutiny, a police source said.

The general manager and the deputy general manager of the bank accompanied the CID team during the visit.

“We talked to the departmental officials to understand their work procedure by organising a discussion,” Baqui said. It was not an interrogation, he said.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the Dhaka Tribune that the government had instructed all law enforcement agencies to assist the CID in the investigation considering importance of the case.

The central committee has several sub-committees, the members of which have been given specific tasks. “We will form more sub-committees or add more members, if needed,” Baqui said.

“All the committees will work under the authority of Deputy Inspector General Saiful Alam so that no confusion arises,” he added.

When contacted, DIG Saiful refused to make any comment on the investigation process.

According to the case statement, the digital heist took place in several countries and the criminals are believed to be outsiders.

About seeking support of Interpol, Baqui said that all necessary action and support would be taken as per the existing rules and procedures. “If necessary, the investigators will visit those countries from where the heist was reported,” he added.

On behalf of the central bank, its Joint Director (accounts and budgeting department) Jubair Bin Huda filed the case against unidentified people with Motijheel police on Tuesday, around 40 days after the funds were transferred from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Later the case was transferred to the CID.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday set April 19 for the investigating agencies to submit their report.

A high official of police, working with the investigation committee, told the Dhaka Tribune that the culprits had got much time to destroy the evidence since the central bank authorities delayed in filing the case.

Another source said that the investigators yesterday started taking statements of all the high officials of the central bank.

As a part of the investigation procedure, they would also interrogate Atiur Rahman, who resigned as governor on Tuesday, and the two removed deputy governors as they are not out of the suspect list. Twelve other officials of the Back Office of the Drilling Room and the sever room were also kept under surveillance.

Baqui told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “Anyone can be interrogated, if it is necessary for the sake of investigation.”