Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman, who tendered his resignation on Tuesday morning, said that he opted to quit out of moral responsibility over the heist of US$101 million from the central bank's account with the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Rahman disclosed his opinion at a press conference, hours after submitting his resignation to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
As the governor of the central bank, he drew criticism for not informing the government for more than a month about the heist which made headlines across the world.
"I am leaving as a hero. I did not want my institution, the Bangladesh Bank, and my country facing any controversy over the issue," the Daily Star quoted him as saying.
On February 4, the hacking took place using information stolen through the malware, which sent a total of 35 transfer orders to the New York Federal Reserve Bank where the Bangladesh Bank have an account.
The malware not only hacked the system, but also destroyed the system on the computers itself, which are used by the officials to make transfer orders.
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With the late disclosure about the matter, the Bangladesh Bank drew displeasure from Hasina, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith and other government officials.
He clarified that it took some time to disclose the matter but it was done according to protocol, adding that the cyber attack was a very high-tech incident.
Rahman said that nothing was understandable at the first place and this incident has a lot of positive sides and the crises can be turned into an opportunity.
He demanded proper investigation of the incident.