Finance Minister A H M Mostafa Kamal said on Sunday the central bank will file a lawsuit with a New York (NY) court within this month to recover the money, stolen a couple years bank from the country's reserve held with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (NY Fed).
The Ministry of Finance and the Bangladesh Bank (BB) are taking all necessary preparations in this regard, he informed.
"Yes we are aware of the February 03 time bar as per the international law, and we must file our case within this deadline (to claim the money)," Mr Kamal told the reporters at his secretariat office after a meeting with BB Governor Fazle Kabir.
Among others, Financial Institutions Division Secretary M Ashadul Islam attended the three-hour meeting at the Finance Division conference room.
"We are taking necessary preparations for filing the case," the finance minister said.
Currently, US$ 66.0 million or more than 60 per cent of the $101 million money, stolen in one of the largest cyber heists of the world, still remains out of recovery.
An attorney from Bangladesh and another from the US are studying the case. "Both the attorneys will look after the case," he further said.
But the decision about the respondent of the case is yet to be finalised.
Mr Kamal also said the two lawyers will take the decision as to who will be the defendant and who will be the plaintiff in the case.
When asked about report of the investigation committee, led by Dr Md Farashuddin, on the matter, the finance minister answered: "We'll publish it, if necessary."
In February 2016, hackers stole a total of $101 million from Bangladesh's account with the NY Fed. Following the financial fraudulence, the then BB governor Dr Atiur Rahman had to resign.
Of the amount, $81 million was transferred to four accounts at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in Manila, the Philippines, and another $20 million to a bank in Sri Lanka.
But the transferring of $20 million to Sri Lanka failed because of a spelling error by the hackers. Later, BB was able to retrieve about $15 million from Manila.
This is one of the most successful cyber robberies in history, in which the hackers netted $81m after executing a series of transactions. It was done by abusing SWIFT via NY Fed. They, however, targeted to take a total of $951 million from the reserve.
The cyber heist sent tremors among banks and large corporations around the world that keep a large amount of funds in their accounts to pay millions of dollars to their suppliers and staff members.
The move of Bangladesh comes within less than two weeks after a regional court of the Philippines held a former branch manager of RCBC guilty on eight counts of money laundering, the first conviction in cyber fraudulence.
The court sentenced Maia Santos Deguito to a jail-term ranging from 32 to 56 years, with each count carrying four to seven years. She was also ordered to pay a total fine of about $109 million.
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