DHAKA: Bangladesh has formally sought assistance from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to track down the cyber crooks who stole $81 million from its central bank’s US account, the interior minister said on Saturday.

Unknown hackers breached the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank in early February and attempted to steal $951 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which it uses for international settlements.

Some attempted transfers were blocked, but $81 million was transferred to accounts in the Philippines in one of the largest cyber heists in history.

The central bank governor resigned on Tuesday, as details emerged in the Philippines that $30 million of the money was delivered in cash to a casino junket operator in Manila, while the rest went to two casinos.

“We sought the FBI’s assistance when a group of FBI met with me for investigating the central bank heist last month,” Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Reuters.

An US embassy official in Dhaka told Reuters Washington stood ready to assist the government of Bangladesh in its investigation.

A senior police official involved in the investigation said that an FBI team was expected to visit the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police in Dhaka on Sunday. The CID was also coordinating with Interpol to track down the perpetrators.

“We are trying to find out what type of security there was, what safety measures were taken, and how the thieves penetrated the fire wall,” he said.

The chief of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest opposition party said on Saturday that if elected they would ensure real autonomy for the central bank.

“There will be no interference or influence from the political party,” Begum Khaleda Zia said at a party conference.

The Bangladesh finance minister has accused central bank officials of being complicit in the audacious $81 million theft from an overseas account, in an interview with a leading Bengali newspaper.

Hackers stole the money from the Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on February 5 and managed to transfer it electronically to accounts in the Philippines.

In a damning interview, A. M. A Muhith earlier told the Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo that Bangladesh Bank officials were “100 percent” involved in the scandal.

“Of course! One hundred percent they are (involved). This cannot be possible without complicity of the locals,” the newspaper, which has the highest circulation of any in Bangladesh, quoted Muhith as saying.

Muhith said the New York bank requires hand prints and other biometric information from central bank officials to activate transactions, appearing to suggest the hackers could not have carried out the attack without inside help.

“The rule is that the transactions are activated only after the hand prints of the six persons are serially placed on a specified plate,” Prothom Alo quoted him as saying.

The central bank governor and his two deputies lost their jobs following the theft and the government has been scrambling to contain the damage from the spiralling scandal.

Muhith said the official explanation that action against the hackers was delayed because the theft took place on a Friday, when the bank is closed, was “totally implausible.”

“Why won’t there be people on a Friday? There should be people to answer calls and provide information even on the holidays,” he said.