High Court bans sale or transfer of Evaly’s assets

September 22, 2021

PBC News: The High Court (HC) has banned sale or transfer of e-commerce platform Evaly’s all movable and immovable assets.

A single HC bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar on Wednesday passed an order asking the company to refrain from selling or transferring the assets.

The HC bench passed the order after hearing on a writ petition filed by a customer of Evaly.

The customer, Farhad Hossain, ordered a washing machine from Evaly 10 months ago. He has not received the product yet. Later, he appealed to the court seeking its directive for liquidation of the company.

Barrister Syed Mahsib Hossain stood for the petitioner.

The court has fixed 30 September for next hearing on the issue.

The court also issued a ruling asking authorities concerned why liquidators should not be appointed in the embattled Evaly.

Another writ was filed seeking court directive to initiate judicial probe into the allegations of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering by the e-commerce platform.

According to Evaly’s own assessment, it has total asset of to Tk 121 crore, whereas they owe more than Tk 1,000 crore to customers and merchants.

Evaly got the money in advance payments by luring people with heavy discounts on products on its site and promising delivery within 7-45 days. Many buyers, however, are yet to receive the items they ordered.

The refund cheques given to customers also bounced because of insufficient funds in Evaly’s bank account.

Meanwhile, three cases were filed against Evaly CEO Mohammad Rassel and Chairman Shamima Nasrin on allegations of money embezzlement and cheque fraud.

The couple was arrested on September 16. Later, a court in Dhaka placed them on a three-day remand. On Tuesday, Rassel was placed another remand and Nasrin was sent to jail.