Home ›› 23 Sep 2021 ›› Front
The government is going to establish a regulatory body as well as formulate and enact a digital commerce act to govern the emerging e-commerce business in the country, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has said.
Besides, a central monitoring cell will be set up at the commerce ministry to look into allegations against controversial e-commerce firms and take action in line with the existing laws, he said.
He made the remarks on Wednesday after a meeting of stakeholders at the ministry held to review the recent problems in the country’s e-commerce sector and devise ways to resolve those.
The commerce minister presided over the meeting while Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Law Minister Anisul Huq, and Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud were also present.
“To bring discipline in the country’s e-commerce sector and govern it, a digital commerce law will be formulated and enacted while a regulatory body will be established,” Tipu told reporters after the meeting.
A central monitoring cell will be set up as a temporary step to investigate the allegations of fraudulent activities against several e-commerce platforms, he said.
The authorities of the cell will take action against the organisations as per the existing laws, he said.
The minister said there are hundreds of e-commerce platforms in the country that are doing business by complying with the rules.
Only 10-12 companies have destroyed the ecosystem and cheated consumers as well as suppliers through fraudulent activities, he said.
“We cannot destroy the whole business for the faults of a few. The government will not take the responsibility for customers’ dues but will take steps to give their money back,” he added.
On top of that, he said the Digital Security Act and the Money Laundering Prevention Act would be amended to ensure legal action against fraudulent e-commerce companies.
“We will find out the assets of rogue e-commerce organisations, including Evaly and e-Orange,” he said.
He further said, “The law ministry will suggest a process to take necessary steps as per the law to sell the properties of these companies, if any, and return the money of their customers and suppliers.”
If big e-commerce firms advertise their products, they must mention that the government will not take any responsibility for investments made in those, he explained.
Measures are being taken by formulating laws and establishing authorities to stop fraudulent activities of e-commerce companies, he said.
“No solution will come from confining the culprits. If they do not have assets, they have to face legal actions and must be behind bars,” the minister added.
Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Bangladesh Competition Commission Chairman Md Mofizul Islam, Head of digital e-commerce cell and Director General of the World Trade Organisation cell under the commerce ministry Md Hafizur Rahman, Deputy Secretary of the digital e-commerce cell Mohammad Saeed Ali, Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed, Rapid Action Battalion Director General Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, and other senior officials were also present at the meeting.
Earlier in the morning, Tipu said the government is examining the possibilities to release Evaly Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Rassel through legal process, letting him resume his e-commerce business and pay the dues of clients and suppliers back.
“We have a proposal to release them [Rassel and his wife Shamima Nasrin] on condition that they will remain under strong monitoring and also allow them to resume the business,” he said.
Evaly was supposed to get huge investments but failed to materialise the fund, he told a media briefing arranged to announce a virtual fair of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) titled “Sourcing Bangladesh 2021-Virtual Edition”.
Evaly owes Tk 311 crore to customers and Tk 206 crore to suppliers, according to the document it submitted to the commerce ministry.
Another e-commerce firm e-Orange has accumulated and is holding around Tk 1,000 crore from its customers and suppliers. Most of its top officials are in jail.
Tipu said the government was also examining the possibility to pay back the deposits of the clients of Jubok, multilevel marketing firm Destiny 2000, and other such companies by selling their seized assets.
“I talked to the home minister about how we can return the deposits of Jubok and Destiny-2000 clients. I know these companies have huge assets that were seized by the government. But some of the assets have already been illegally occupied,” he said.
Destiny-2000 has been accused of misappropriating investors’ money amounting to Tk 3,285 crore. Millions of its customers are waiting to have their deposits back.
On July 31, 2012, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed two money laundering cases against Destiny Group Managing Director Md Rafiqul Amin and its top officials.
On October 11 that year, the court sent them to jail after rejecting their bail petitions they had filed upon surrender.
Another multilevel marketing company Global Neway has been accused of embezzling at least Tk 1,000 crore from more than 40,000 customers.
On the other hand, Jubok embezzled around Tk 2,588 crore from 3.03 lakh investors by tempting them with double or more profits in a short time.
In 2006, the Bangladesh Bank shut it down and seized its assets, but investors have not got back even a single penny.
Tipu told the briefing around 30,000 e-commerce platforms are doing business at present and some of them only have trade licences, such as e-Orange.
He said the government was working to regulate such businesses and had already issued an e-commerce guideline.
“We believe e-commerce platforms will turn around if customers are aware,” he said.
Replying to a question, he said his ministry was aware of Alesha Card and had already recommended the Bangladesh Bank take steps in this regard.
He said consumers have to be careful about unrealistic discount offers to prevent fraudulence.
On September 16, the World Bank announced its decision to discontinue the ease of doing business index report. Asked about it, Tipu said the government was aware of improving the country’s business environment.
He said it did not matter whether the World Bank would publish the report or not.
“We know what issues they evaluated, and we will improve those.”
Sourcing Bangladesh 2021-Virtual Edition, a weeklong exposition, will be held between October 18 and 24. Participants can join it on www.sourcing-bangladesh.com.
It will focus on the major export sectors, including readymade garments, leather and leather goods, jute and jute goods, home decor and home textiles, pharmaceuticals, agro and agro-processed products, plastic, light engineering, electronics, ICT, furniture, ceramics, and handicrafts.
The event will feature virtual booths, digital displays of exhibits in 3D, brochures, audio and visual presentations, live chats, virtual business-to-business meetings, and webinars.
In addition, there will be a database of buyers and sellers on the fair website.
EPB officials said they had targeted 200 participants, but exporters had not decided on participation yet.
Around 150 investors have expressed their interest in attending the fair.
A participant needs Tk 85,000 to register for the fair, but there is no fee for buyers and visitors.
