Home ›› 01 Oct 2021 ›› Front
The commerce ministry has informed some ministries and agencies, including the home ministry, that some e-commerce company owners have fled abroad after embezzling crores of taka from customers and laundering money.
Besides Evaly, E-orange, and Dhamaka Shopping, the ministry in a report on September 22 said another 10 e-commerce companies are in a risky situation.
The companies are Alesha Mart, Falguni Shop, Sirajganj Shop, 24tkt.com, Adyan Mart, Glitters RST World, Green Bangla E-Commerce, Annex Worldwide, Amarbazar, and Excellent World Agro Food and Consumer.
These companies have received advance payments from buyers by tempting them in various ways. They have bought products from suppliers on credit but do not have enough money to pay.
The ministry asked the authorities concerned to take legal action against these companies.
The report said a large number of buyers and suppliers would not get their outstanding payments and more fraudulent organisations would be created in the future as some company owners had already fled abroad.
It also said some companies might be closed in the future.
A recent meeting at the ministry attended by Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud, and Law Minister Anisul Huq discussed the current crisis in the e-commerce sector. It suggested further discussions to recover customers’ due payments.
The inspector general of police and the director-general of the Rapid Action Battalion also attended the meeting. They were asked to keep an eye on the owners of companies who had not fled yet.
They were also asked to take action against those who had already fled.
The commerce minister told the meeting Evaly and E-orange owners are in jail while those involved in Dhamaka Shopping could not be found.
He said Alesha Mart is still running some promotions, and a few more companies are doing business in similar ways.
These companies are being monitored, he said.
E-orange has illegally obtained crores of taka by luring customers with tempting offers. Law enforcement agencies have already detained many of its owners. Inspector Sohel Rana of Banani Police Station, one of the owners, was caught by the Indian Border Security Force while fleeing to the neighbouring country.
Jasim Uddin Chishti, the main owner and managing director of Dhamaka Shopping, has moved to the US after pocketing Tk 589 crore through fraudulence. Most of the members of the board of directors have also fled. Even though the office is closed now, Chishti goes live on Facebook every week and assures customers in various ways.
Dhamaka Shopping told The Business Post in an email on Monday that it is very important for the government to take immediate steps to remove the administrative and infrastructural constraints in order to develop the e-commerce sector.
“There have been some problems in this sector. There is a lot of unrest and ambiguity, especially concerning Dhamaka Shopping. The company’s managing director will present the future plans to address the current crisis in a press conference on Tuesday (September 28).”
But in another email on Monday night, the company said the press conference had been postponed due to unavoidable circumstances, and the new schedule would be disclosed immediately.
The commerce ministry’s Digital Commerce Cell recently requested the Bangladesh Bank to collect the bank account details of nine companies, including the risky ones. It will later seek information about more companies.
Besides, the home ministry, the National Board of Revenue, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, Bangladesh Competition Commission, and the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms have been asked to intensify monitoring of these companies.
The e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) has been asked to take action against these firms.
A senior commerce ministry official told The Business Post the competition commission had filed cases of its own accord in November last year after the e-commerce irregularities had come to light.
“The consumer rights protection directorate then took action based on customer complaints. Several lakh customers lost about Tk 3,000 crore when the companies rapidly expanded business during the pandemic,” he said.
He also said this had affected the entire e-commerce sector, and the ministry was taking coordinated steps to handle the situation.
Ali Hossain, managing director of Green Bangla E-Commerce, told The Business Post they had never taken advance payments from customers or made tempting offers.
He said his company does not owe buyers anything. He shut the company down in November last year due to a financial crisis caused by Covid-19.
Assurance was all he got when he approached various organisations, including e-CAB, seeking assistance to overcome the crisis. He does not know why the ministry thinks his defunct company is at risk.
Junaid Hasan, the administration head of Annex Worldwide, said the company owes customers nothing, and they are now making cash transactions.
He said the company does not sell products with offers, and hence should not be considered risky.
“But the e-CAB has asked us to update our website, and we are working on that. The commerce ministry or the home ministry has not informed us of any problem.”
Mohammad Moniruzzaman, managing director of Amarbazar, told The Business Post his company owes buyers or suppliers nothing, and all transactions are now made using cash.
“We have delivered all the pending products, and no buyer can complain now,” he added.
Intelligence agencies are surveilling dozens of e-commerce companies accused of deceiving customers. They are collecting information about the owners of these organisations.
These companies have been cheating customers for a long time, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Millions of customers enticed by attractive offers have lost a large amount of money.
These customers have been delivered fake products or have not received products after making advance payments.
