Bangladesh Bank official’s computer hacked —envoy

The computer of a Bangladesh Bank official was hacked prior to the $81-million money laundering scheme, the Bangladeshi envoy revealed on Thursday.

"One of our bank officials, the computer (personnel) who actually is in the group who makes the payments, who passes the payment instruction, his computer was hacked," Bangladeshi Ambassador John Gomes told the Senate blue ribbon committee.

This comes after $81 million was stolen from the account of the Bangladesh Bank with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York by still unknown hackers.

According to Gomes, the hacking was done on a Friday, a day for prayer in Bangladesh.

"It was a Friday when this happened. The Bangladesh Bank (was) totally shut down on a Friday because it's a Muslim day of prayer," he said.

Gomes added that after further investigation by Bangladeshi officials, the hackers have been found to be "not anyone in the Philippines nor anyone in Bangladesh."

"(There are) certain indications (but) until we get final report we cannot say... Definitely we have information that it's not a Bangladeshi or a Filipino," he added. —KG, GMA News