With more assets than liability claim, Qcoom seeks unfreezing Tk394cr

Beleaguered e-commerce platform Qcoom claims its liquid assets widely overtake the customer liabilities, but all of it is now stuck with the payment gateway, which has thrown the company out of business.  

In a letter to the commerce ministry last week, the firm said it will be able to clear Tk250 crore customer liabilities smoothly if its payment gateway Foster Payment releases Tk394 crore. 

However, Qcoom's lawyer said the fund release will also require freeing Ripan Mia – founder and CEO of the firm – from jail for official procedures to complete the payments.    

Qcoom lawyer Md Abul Kalam Azad in the letter requested the ministry to take necessary initiatives to put an end to the sufferings of the company, its officials and customers as well.

In the face of money laundering charges, the central bank recently suspended Foster's operations following an investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department. The Bangladesh Bank move amid the revealing of the scam-tainted e-commerce sector added to complexities about customer refund and merchant payment.

Advocate Abul Kalam Azad in his letter blamed Foster Payment for the entire complexities.

His claim of only Tk250 crore customer-liabilities was yet to be independently verified.

However, he submitted a copy of Foster Payment's written statement where the gateway company said that Qcoom's positive balance with them was Tk394.15 crore and Foster was ready to settle the entire amount as soon as it gets necessary government instructions.

For online shopping, the government introduced escrow system – a third party who receives money from the customer and release it to the e-commerce firm upon the product delivery.      

The commerce ministry has written to the Bangladesh Bank to clear the e-commerce industry funds stuck in the escrow system unless there is any lawsuit against the recipient company.

It seems Qcoom clients' suffering is yet to go unless the government takes a special look into the company's case.

Qcoom Founder and CEO Ripan Mia was detained by police on 3 October this year following a legal action by a disgruntled customer. Till date, Qcoom customers have filed six cases on similar grounds.

Advocate Azad said, "It is unfortunate that despite being the only cash-surplus company in the industry, Qcoom has been sued by customers for delivery and refund failure leading the founder to jail."

Qcoom founder Ripan Mia earlier founded ridesharing company Pickme, delivery platform Pickme express, entertainment company JMR Digital. He entered the e-commerce market a year ago when the industry was about to be overtaken by rogue firms such as Evaly, Dhamaka Shopping, Eorange and Alesha Mart with abnormal discounts.

Qcoom too was offering big discounts and in its last campaign in June drawing huge orders. Then came the delivery within 10-day rules, plus the escrow system.

Advocate Azad claimed the company's warehouses still have products worth around Tk100 crore that are being guarded by the law enforcement agencies.

"If the company founder is not released, the physical assets might be damaged at some point," he added.