HC to form board to assess Evaly’s liabilities

The High Court will form a four-member board Wednesday for assessing the liabilities of the much-controversial e-commerce platform known as Evaly.

The anticipated board will consist of a former judge, a chartered accountant, a secretary and a lawyer.

Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam announced the decision on Tuesday during a hearing on a writ filed in this
regard.

“The committee, to be formed by the court, will be tasked with determining the liabilities of Evaly and monitoring its activities,” said Sayed Mahsib Hossain, a lawyer who argued for the writ petition.

Earlier on 11 October, all documents related to the e-commerce platform were submitted to the High Court as per its order at the hearing of an application filed by Evaly customer Md Farhad Hossen.

The High Court on 30 September had directed the registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) to submit all the relevant papers.

The application sought necessary directives for winding up the company and settling the issue, and demanded a refund from the liquidation of Evaly property.

Following an earlier hearing on the petition on 22 September, the HC put a moratorium on the sale or transfer of all movable and immovable properties of Evaly.

The court also issued a rule asking why a liquidator should not be appointed to wind down Evaly immediately.

After the hearing, the court had earlier set 12 October for further orders on the issue.

Evaly, RJSC, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, bKash, Nagad, Bangladesh Competition Commission, the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), BASIS, the Bangladesh Bank and the commerce secretary were made defendants to Farhad’s petition.

According to Evaly’s own assessment, it has assets amounting to Tk 121 crore, while it owes customers and merchants more than Tk 1,000 crore.

The company took money in advance payments, luring people with massive discounts on products
on its site and promising delivery within 7-45 days. However, many buyers are yet to receive the items they ordered even after the promised delivery deadline.

In some cases, Evaly offered refund cheques to customers following their failure to deliver, but in many cases, the cheques bounced because of insufficient funds in Evaly’s bank account.

Several cases have been filed against Evaly CEO Mohammad Rassel and his wife Shamima Nasrin who is also the chairman of the company, on allegations of embezzlement of money and cheque fraud. The couple was arrested on 16 September, 2021.