Police have arrested Amanullah, the chief operating officer of e-commerce platform E-orange, in a case that accuses him of embezzling Tk 1,100 crore.
He was arrested from the capital’s Gulshan area on Wednesday night, said Gulshan police station’s Inspector (investigation) Aminul Islam.
Earlier on August 16, Md Taherul Islam, on behalf of aggrieved customers of E-orange, filed the case against five people with Gulshan police station, he said.
The accused are Sonia Mehzabin, Masukur Rahman, Amanullah, Bithi Akhter and Kawsar.
However, the number of owners in the company was not mentioned in the case, he further said.
Aminul said that a Dhaka court sent E-orange’s former owner Sonia Mehjabin and her husband Masukur Rahman to jail on Tuesday.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sources said that several private banks have recently banned transactions on several e-commerce sites, including E-Orange.
Although there is a fraud case against E-orange, they are also investigating if any money laundering was done by the accused, sources said.
“If necessary, everyone in the organization will be questioned and CID will file a case if the investigation finds evidence of money laundering,” sources added.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, citing attacks, harassment, and lawsuits stagnating their official works, e-orange announced on its Facebook page that its deliveries will be delayed further.
In the Facebook post, e-orange said, “Some customers are spreading rumours through social media and filed lawsuits against the board and officials of the organisation. Many officials have already resigned while many others are feeling the pain. Their officials cannot go to the office and the delivery people to the warehouse.”
“We have received a lot of emails for refunds in the last few days. We are doing our best to ensure that refunds are given quickly via SSL,” the FB post stated.
Meanwhile, the commerce ministry has served a show-cause notice to the online platform over the harassment of customers.
The ministry said that it had learned from several customers and the media that E-orange did not deliver products on time even after receiving payment from its customers, violating the Customer Rights Protection Act.
The ministry asked e-orange authorities to explain in seven days as to why legal actions should not be taken against the platform.
