High Court to form board today to assess Evaly’s liabilities
The committee, to be formed by the court, will be tasked with determining the liabilities of Evaly and monitoring its activities
The High Court will form a four-member board Wednesday to assess the liabilities of the controversial e-commerce platform Evaly.
The board will consist of a former judge, a chartered accountant, a secretary and a lawyer, Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam said, announcing the decision on Tuesday, during a hearing on a writ petition filed in this regard.
"The committee...will be tasked with determining the liabilities of Evaly and monitoring its activities," said Barrister Sayed Mahsib Hossain, a lawyer who argued for the writ petition.
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Earlier on 11 October, all documents related to Evaly were submitted to the High Court as per its order at the hearing of an application filed by a customer named Md Farhad Hossen.
The High Court on 30 September had directed the registrar of the Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) to submit the 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 High Court put a moratorium on the sale or transfer of all movable and immovable properties of Evaly.
The court also issued a ruling, asking why a liquidator should not be appointed to wind down the e-commerce platform immediately.
After the hearing, the court had set 12 October for further orders on the issue.
Evaly, the RJSC, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, bKash, Nagad, the 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 Tk121 crore, while it owes customers and merchants more than Tk1,000 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 the chairman of the company, on allegations of embezzlement and cheque fraud. The couple was arrested on 16 September.
