ACC starts inquiry against Evaly over alleged corruption

Staff Correspondent: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday started inquiry against e-commerce platform Evaly following a Commerce Ministry request to take legal action against the company over allegedly embezzling or illegally withdrawing Tk 338 crore taken in advance from customers and owed to merchants.
The commission formed a two-member inquiry team, led by Assistant Director Mamunur Rashid Chowdhury. Another member of the team is Deputy Assistant Director Shihab Salam, sources in ACC confirmed Daily Industry. On 4 July, the commerce ministry sent separate letters to Home Ministry, ACC, 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 Tk 214 crore from customers and the refund of Tk 190 crore owed to businesses.
In an inspection report submitted to the commerce ministry last month, the Bangladesh Bank said Evaly’s total liability was Tk 407.18 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 Tk 65.17 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.