HC summons all Evaly documents from RJSC

The High Court (HC) has directed the registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) to submit to the court, all documents and records relating to Evaly by 12 October.

The HC bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar issued the order at the hearing of an application filed by Evaly customer Md Farhad Hossen on Thursday.

Farhad did not get a washing machine he ordered from Evaly even after ten months, although he paid in advance, according to the application.

The application, filed just over a week ago, 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 latest hearing, the court 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.

Appearing in court on behalf of the petitioner yesterday, Barristers Syed Mahsib Hossain told the media that the court will give its order on the issue after all records and documents are provided to it.

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.