Suspect involved in Taiwan money transfer scandal surrenders to CID

A suspect involved in the money transfer scandal from a bank in Taiwan surrendered to the CID with Rs. 3 million a short while ago. 

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) arrested Litro Gas chairman N.M.S. Moonesinghe in connection with the transfer of 1.1 million USD from the far Eastern Bank of Taiwan to a Sri Lankan bank account. 

Sri Lankan police have also reportedly arrested two men for allegedly helping international criminals who hacked into computers at a Taiwan bank and stole millions of dollars.

Sri Lanka’s state-owned LP Gas supplier, Litro Gas, says that the company had no connection or knowledge of the alleged transaction that the Chairman of Litro Gas has been accused of.

Taiwan law enforcement authorities launched an investigation into the incident after the Far Eastern Bank was hacked by means of a computer virus where over US$ 60 million was siphoned to an account in Sri Lanka.

According to local and regional news reports, Far Eastern International Bank was hacked by means of a computer virus and some US$60 million was wired to the accounts of the suspects at a Sri Lanka bank in the capital Colombo.

Two suspects were arrested last week in Sri Lanka when they tried to withdraw the money, and police there were look for a third person, according to the news reports.

“We are looking at some US$1.3 million that had come into three accounts in Sri Lanka,” an unnamed Sri Lankan official involved with the investigation was quoted as saying in an AFP report. “We have taken two people into custody, and we are looking for one more person.”

On Saturday, Far Eastern Bank said it had recovered most of the stolen money and that its losses would amount to no more than US$500,000.

The bank said it noticed some irregularities in its computerized transaction system on Tuesday and then discovered that some of its computers and servers had been infected with malware.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication’s (SWIFT) network was also compromised, which allowed the hackers to wire money to international destinations such as Sri Lanka, Cambodia and the United States, Far Eastern Bank said.