Eorange customers want their Tk16 crore back
A list of 1000 existing e-commerce companies have also been added to the writ
Thirty-three Eorange customers, who have invested in the e-commerce business, have filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking an order to retrieve their Tk16 crore.
The investors' lawyer, Mohammad Shishir Monir, informed the media on Sunday after he filed the writ petition on behalf of the investors at the concerned branch of the High Court.
He also said, "A High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman is likely to hear the writ petition this week."
A total of 16 people has been named as defendants in the writ petition including Commerce Secretary, Finance Secretary, Home Secretary, Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Head of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, Head of Central Digital Commerce Cell, Chairman of Bangladesh Competition Commission, Director General of National Consumer Rights Protection Department, and Managing Director of Eorange Shop.
A list of 1000 existing e-commerce companies of Bangladesh, published on the website of the Ministry of Commerce, has also been added to the writ.
Lawyer Shishir Monir said, "The court has been asked to form a committee comprising economists, IT experts, businessmen, and stakeholders to come up with specific proposals for safeguarding the interests of both consumers and e-commerce organisations."
He added, "The writ also asked for banning the recruitment of receivers in other unprotected and risky e-commerce organisations including Eorange; banning the emigration of responsible and senior officials of those e-commerce organisations; and to investigate whether money laundering has taken place by the organisations."
In the light of the National Consumer Rights Protection Act-2009, Competition Act-2012, National Digital Commerce Policy-2018, Digital Commerce Management Guidelines-2021, the failure of defendants in monitoring and preventing e-commerce scams and protecting the interests of customers has been highlighted in the writ petition.
He further said, "Vouchers worth Tk16 crore and purchase orders of various items of 33 customers have been attached to the writ petition. They did not receive their purchased product or a refund of money in time."
Abdul Barek of Dinajpur's Birampur invested Tk70 lakh to buy products in Eorange; Wahedul Alam of Dhaka's Gulshan invested Tk47 lakh; Aminul Islam of Pabna's Chatmohar gave Tk40 lakh, and none of them got the products or a refund of money, The lawyer informed.
