HC seeks info on bank transactions of Evaly
Managing Directors and CEOs of banks were asked to comply with the order within one month
The High Court on Wednesday directed 13 banks and financial institutions to provide information on the money paid by e-commerce company Evaly to its suppliers with cash and cheques to buy various products for its customers.
Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Brac Bank, Bank Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, Modhumoti Bank, Southeast Bank Limited, Dhaka Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited, Midland Bank, City Bank, Community Bank, bKash, and Nagad, were asked to comply with the order within one month.
In responding to a plea by the new board of Evaly in a case related to the liquidation process of the company, the HC bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar issued the order.
Barrister Morshed Ahmed Khan represented the Evaly board and Barrister Syed Mahsib Hossain appeared for the petition seeking to wind up the company.
Following a petition filed by a customer named Forhad Hossain, the HC bench on 22 September of last year 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.
The court on 18 October 2021 formed a four-member new board to manage, control, and assess the liabilities of the e-commerce platform.
According to Evaly's own assessment, it has assets of only Tk121 crore, while it owes customers and merchants more than Tk1000 crore.
The company took money in advance payments, luring people with massive discounts on products on its site, promising delivery within 7-45 days. However, many buyers are yet to receive the items they ordered well 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 was the chairman of the company, on allegations of embezzlement and cheque fraud. The couple was arrested on 16 September.
On 6 April, Shamima was freed from jail on bail while Rassel was granted bail in 9 cases on April 21 but was not released because of other cases in which he was not granted bail.
