13 e-commerce firms reimburse clients Tk 194cr, but Evaly nothing

As loosely overseen e-commerce shops began cheating their unembellished clients last year, it enraged the deceived clients when the government intervened.

The amount of money allegedly grabbed by the rogue e-commerce companies is not less than several thousand crore taka. Many companies started reimbursing via commerce ministry arbitration.

However, Evaly did not refund their clients at all. It allegedly pocketed some Tk 1,000 crore from their bucolic clients and an official report found they owe their patrons Tk 214 crore.

Now defunct, no one knows for sure how these deceived clients could be reimbursed, officials said.

To appease their clients, some 13 e-commerce shops including Qcoom and Alisha Mart have returned Tk 193.83 crores to their clients, according to the e-commerce platform central cell, under the ministry of commerce.

On April 7, six months after landing in jail in cases filed over allegations of embezzlement of customers’ money, e-commerce platform Evaly’s Chairman Shamima Nasrin walked out.

The Director General of the WTO Cell of the Ministry of Commerce and Head of Central E-Commerce Cell, Md Hafizur Rahman told Business Insider Bangladesh that since the High Court has formed a commission regarding Evaly, the Ministry of Commerce has nothing to do about refunding the money to the affected Evaly clients.

“So far, we have brought 13 companies sans legal complications to the process of refunding their affected clients through reimbursement,” he added.

Hafizur Rahman of the Ministry of Commerce said 13 e- firms have so far returned nearly Tk 200 crore after taking reconciliation initiatives by his ministry and other pressure groups.

According to the Central e-Commerce Cell, on 2nd August, some 21,283 clients of 13 e-commerce companies have been reimbursed Tk 193.83 crore which the patron had paid as advances to buy different products.

Qcoom has returned the most money and its number of clients is 17,175. The company has refunded Tk 139 crore. Alisha Mart has secured the second position. This company has refunded Tk 39.18 crore to their 2,218 clients. Alisha Mart is followed by Dalal Plus’ who had refunded Tk 12.23 crore to some 922 clients.

The remaining 10 firms have paid less than one crore, each. Those concerned say that these institutions should be asked to increase their reimbursement volume.

The companies that returned less than 1 crore are - Bumbum Plus, Anandabazar, Thale.com, Dhamaka, Shrestha.com, Alif World, Bangladesh Deal, Sofetik, 99-Global and Adian Mart, respectively.

After June 30, the Ministry of Commerce began the process of reimbursing the clients of those companies whose money was stuck in the e-commerce payment gateways. Those concerned said that almost a year has passed since the government took initiative to stop deceiving people by these rogue e-commerce shops and steal money from their clients. The government also pledged to reimburse the affected people.

In the meantime, cases had been filed against some organisations including Evaly, e-orange, Qcoom. The owners and officials of some organisations were arrested and put in jail. Apart from this, approval of six e-commerce companies was canceled last week for carrying out Ponzi scheme, known as MLM businesses.

The de-sanctioned companies are Thale.com, Glitters RST World, Annex World Wide Limited, Excellent World Agrofood & Consumer Ltd., Alif World and Greenbangla E-Commerce Limited. Among them, Thale.com and Alif World companies have refunded some of the customer’s money under an agreement supervised by the Ministry of Commerce.

The head of the central ecommerce cell said they began to monitor two firms whose approval has been revoked. Legal action will follow if they do not refund the money under the Commerce Ministry’s settlement arbitration.

Sources in the Ministry of Commerce said that a list of the number of cases filed against the accused e-commerce companies across the country was given to the Ministry of Commerce by the police intelligence agency at the beginning of this year. The list shows that there are 105 cases against 24 e-commerce companies in different police stations of the country. The arrested officials of the rogue institutions in these cases are in jail. However, the source said that there have been separate cases against some organisations across the country. The companies against which the affected customers have filed cases are - Evaly, e-Orange, QCoom, RingID, Dhamaka Shopping, Global E-Commerce, Global Gain E-Commerce, Ananda Bazar, Dalal Plus, AMSBD, Falguni Shop BD, Sirajganj Shop, SPC World Express, 24TKT, Safe Shop, Rapid Cash-Quick Online E-Loan App, Sahaj Life & Lively Life, Ehsan Group, Thale.com, Alif World, Micro Trade Group.com, Design Fashion and Zeka Bazaar, respectively.

Most of these cases have been filed against e-Orange. The company’s customers have filed 42 cases in Dhaka, Chittagong and Rooppur, respectively. Evaly ranked second in terms of number of suits against it.

The Criminal Investigation Division received information about 20 cases against the company in several districts of the country including Dhaka. Apart from this, there are seven cases against Qcoom. There are one to three cases against the rest of the firms.