Dhamaka owner seeks commerce ministry help to obtain bail

The proprietor of rogue e-commerce store Dhamaka, Jasim Uddin Chishti, wants to have bail from a Bangladesh court and activate his frozen accounts ‘so that he could reimburse his clients the money that his company owes,’ a commerce ministry official said.

Jasim, also a fugitive, is now staying in the USA.

At a virtual meeting with the commerce ministry officials he expressed his willingness to pay off the debt by reimbursing his Dhamaka clients.

The man sought the commerce ministry’s support to obtain bail from the respective court that had ordered his arrest.

The case was lodged against him and other Dhamaka officials for allegedly embezzling more than Tk 45 crore.

However, the commerce ministry's digital e-commerce cell’s head Md Hafizur Rahman informed him that his ministry does not have any authority to ask the court for any leniency. The matter depends on the legal procedures of the country.

Dhamaka Shopping owner sought assistance from the commerce ministry through a ‘zoom’ meeting on Monday and talked to the additional secretary to the commerce ministry and head of digital e-commerce cell, Md Hafizur Rahman.

Jashim Uddin Chishty, managing director of controversial e-commerce company Dhamaka Shopping, has misappropriated more than Tk 45.47 crore from the company, according to a probe of the Bangladesh Bank.

The investigation found that Chishty took away Tk 24.63 crore from the company in the name of disbursing loans to other companies, Tk 20 crore in the name of software purchase, and Tk 0.84 crore in advance.

In the virtual meeting, it was discussed that a total of Tk 90 crore of patrons’ money has been stuck in the payment gateway which cannot be disbursed without any court verdict.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry has so far reimbursed clients of various rogue e-commerce platforms worth Tk 220 crore after recovering money from a number of blocked gateway systems. All decisions of those digital e-commerce companies relied on court verdicts.

The head of the digital ecommerce cell Md Hafizur Rahman told Business Insider Bangladesh that the Dhamaka owner wants to reimburse his clients’ proceeds as soon as possible.

The additional secretary said Jashim is concerned about his other businesses as Dhamaka earned disrepute. Jashim told him that since Dhamaka’s bank accounts have been frozen by the authorities, he is not able to transfer any funds for reimbursement and even operate other trades.

On 29 September, 2021, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the chief operating officer and two other officials of e-commerce platform Dhamaka Shopping in Dhaka on charges of fraud and embezzlement. At that time Jasim Uddin Chishti went into hiding and made his way to the USA.

The detainees were Dhamaka Chief Operating Officer Sirajul Islam Rana, Category Head (mobile fashion & lifestyle), Imtiaz Hasan Shobuj and Category Head (electronics), Ibrahim Shwapon.

They had been working for this online store since 2020, the year when the organisation adopted its aggressive strategy by offering customers huge discounts that did not make any marketing sense.

According to the case statement, Dhamaka Shopping had collected a total of Tk 803.51 crore from around five lakh customers by offering unusual discounts and other incentives. In the beginning, Dhamaka Shopping delivered products to some customers, but soon they stopped supplying goods to their clients and reportedly embezzled the advances.