The High Court has formed a five-member board to manage, control and assess the liabilities of the e-commerce platform Evaly.
The HC bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar formed the board by an order on Monday following a writ petition seeking liquidation of the company.
Former judge of the Appellate Division of Supreme Court Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik will lead the board. Four other members of the board are former secretary of Local Government and Rural Development Division Mohammad Rezaul Ahsan and former additional secretary of Railways Ministry Mahbub Kabir Milon, chartered accountant Fakhruddin Ahmed and expert on company law Barrister Khan Mohammad Shamim Aziz.
In his instant reaction, Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik, chairman of the newly -formed board, said, “We will try to turn the Evaly into a profitable company. I will talk to other four members of the committee. We will work together to make the Evaly into a profitable platform.”
Syed Mahsib Hossain, counsel of the petitioner, said the High Court has formed the board for Evaly’s management. The board has been asked to submit a report on the platform on the next due date.
On September 22, Md Farhad Hossain, a disgruntled customer, filed the writ petition seeking court directives for winding up Evaly. He demanded a refund of his money after the liquidation of Evaly’s property.
On September 30, the HC bench asked the Joint Stock Companies and Firms and others concerned to provide all documents regarding Evaly to the court by October 12. The higher court imposed a ban on the sale and transfer of properties of Evaly. The court had issued the order after hearing the petition of Farhad Hossain.
On October 12, the Joint Stock Companies and Firms only submitted the audit reports till 2019. Lawyer Syed Mahsib Hossain said that the documents, which were submitted to the court, have not been examined till now. The board has been formed for this purpose.
Later, the HC bench suggested the formation of a board of directors to oversee the management and business activities of the controversial e-commerce platform. The court had asked the commerce ministry to propose names for the board.
On October 13, the commerce ministry proposed the names for the board.
Evaly has been under the limelight for luring in customers by offering huge discounts on various products, including cars and motorcycles, but did not deliver finally. Nor had it reportedly paid its merchants.
An Evaly customer named Arif Baker brought charges of fraud and issuance of death threats against Evaly CEO Mohammad Rassel, and his wife Shamima Nasrin who is the chairman of the company, in the case filed with the Gulshan police station on September 16. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members arrested the couple from their flat in Mohammadpur in the captial after a raid on the same day.
According to the case statement, the plaintiff noticed Evaly’s advertising in May and made orders worth Tk 3.1 lakh from the site. The orders have yet to be fulfilled, long after they were made.
After primary interrogation, RAB claimed to quote Rassel and Nasrin that Evaly owed more than Tk 1,000 crore to its customers and suppliers but had only Tk 30 lakh in its bank account.
Rassel had planned to enter the stock market after running his company for three years. He also had planned to declare himself bankrupt after failing to repay the debt.
