Home Ministry asked to sue Evaly for embezzlement

The commerce ministry has written to the home ministry to file a case against much discussed e-commerce company Evaly for allegedly embezzling or illegally withdrawing Tk338 crore taken in advance from customers and owed to merchants.

The ministry has sent a separate letter to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to take legal action against Evaly after investigating the financial irregularities found by the Bangladesh Bank.

Besides, the commerce ministry has asked the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection and the Bangladesh Competition Commission to take legal action by investigating the non-delivery of goods after accepting an advance of Tk214 crore from customers and the refund of Tk190 crore owed to businesses.

Asked about this, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi told The Business Standard on Tuesday that the inspection report of the Bangladesh Bank conducted on Evaly had revealed financial irregularities and a huge amount of money taken from customers and merchants could not be traced.

"According to the Bangladesh Bank report, letters have been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection and the Competition Commission to take necessary legal action to prevent embezzlement or illegal removal of money taken from customers and merchants," he added.

The commerce minister said, "The money that Evaly has taken in advance from consumers and merchants has to be paid. The investigation has just begun. We must protect the interests of our customers. Similar action will be taken against any company if the same thing is done by it."

In an inspection report submitted to the commerce ministry last month, the Bangladesh Bank said Evaly's total liability was Tk407.18 crore. After receiving Tk213.94 crore in advance from customers and Tk189.85 crore from merchants, the company was expected to have at least Tk403.80 crore in current assets, but it had only Tk65.17 crore.

Expressing concern that the amount of Evaly's liability to customers and merchants may be higher, the Bangladesh Bank mentioned in the report that this is the reason why Evaly's authorities did not allow the inspection team to enter the company's replica database.

In a letter to the home ministry, the ACC, the consumer rights and competition commission on 4 July, the commerce ministry said, "Evaly will be able to deliver goods or get the money back to only 16.14% of the customers with the company's current assets."

It is not possible for the company to pay the dues of the remaining customers and merchants. Moreover, no trace of Tk338.62 crore taken from customers and merchants has been found, which is likely to be embezzled or illegally withdrawn.

An official from the commerce ministry told TBS as Evaly takes advance payment from customers, it should not have dues to merchants.

"But due to large-scale financial irregularities and mismanagement, this is happening in the case of Evaly. Therefore, in order to protect the interests of customers and merchants, the Ministry of Home Affairs has been requested to take legal action or file a case against Evaly," he added.

An official from the home ministry's public security department said the instruction had already been sent to the Police Headquarters to take the necessary action as per the commerce ministry's letter.

The commerce ministry has requested the ACC to take legal action to investigate whether there has been any misappropriation of money from customers or money laundering or any other financial irregularities.

Dr Md Mozammel Haque Khan, commissioner (enquiry) of ACC, told, "The office was running on a limited scale due to the ongoing lockdown. The letter has not reached me yet. Necessary steps will be taken according to the ACC law when we receive the letter."

A letter has been sent to the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection to take legal action to protect the rights of consumers who have not received their products after paying in advance and are not getting a refund. The company's law also provides for the closure of any company for violating consumer interests.

Md Hafizur Rahman, director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Cell at the commerce ministry, has advised consumers who are being deceived by paying price in advance to Evaly to lodge a complaint with the consumer rights protection directorate.

Md Mofizul Islam, chairman of the competition commission told  , "A lawsuit was already pending against Evaly over its 150% discount offer. In the meantime, I received a letter from the commerce ministry."

"We will investigate further and take action in accordance with the law if we find information of anti-competitive activities against Evaly," he said.