14 Evaly customers get over Tk1.45 lakh refunded

Total 14 customers of the controversial e-commerce platform Evaly have been refunded over Tk1.45 lakh earlier stuck in the online payment gateway SSLCOMMERZ.

As per commerce ministry sources, Evaly refunded the amount on Saturday.

Measures are in place so that customers get their money back – currently stuck in BKash, Nagad and SSLCOMMERZ – in phases, they added while seeking anonymity.

Some Tk25 crore of Evaly customers' money is now stuck in different payment platforms including Nagad bKash and SSLCOMMERZ.

Besides, an amount not so significant is also stuck in other payment gateways, ministry sources said, adding that there is a possibility of Tk1.5 crore, currently stuck in Nagad, getting refunded in the next few days.

Earlier last month, the government had asked local payment gateways to submit information about the funds stuck from Evaly's customers.

In November 2022, the central commerce ministry's e-commerce cell had asked Evaly to submit data within 11 December about the number of its customers and the amount of money stuck in the payment gateways.

But, the company failed to comply with the instruction, prompting the ministry to seek the info from the gateways. Evaly has more than 200,000 customers, it told the ministry.

So far, over seven million products against purchase orders have been delivered successfully, Evaly claimed in a document.

As per Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the volume of customers' stuck funds with 27 such online shopping platforms would be around Tk525 crore.

As many as 13 companies returned around Tk325 crore of the total blocked money to 37,333 customers until 3 January last, according to the commerce ministry.

Evaly, however, resumed its operation on 28 October last year following an order of the High Court (HC). A new five-member board of directors was also formed to run the company.

The new board included the former chairman of Evaly Shamima Nasrin, Shamima's mother Farida Talukder Lily, and her sister's husband Md Mamunur Rashid.

The commerce ministry started refunding the money in January last year. Authorities concerned have taken multiple steps in the wake of various scandals by dubious e-commerce platforms.

Evaly founder and Managing Director Mohammad Rassel and his wife and Evaly Chairman Shahima Nasrin were arrested in 2021 following cases filed by customers.

Rassel is still in jail while his wife Shamima is currently out on bail and at the helm of the e-commerce platform.