Rassel, Nasrin remanded

Evaly CEO Mohammad Rassel and his wife Shamima Nasrin, also chairman of the company, have been placed on remand in a case filed for embezzling clients' money.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court Judge Atiqul Islam granted three days each as police sought 10 days for the sake of investigation.

The court sought the probe report by October 16.

The couple was produced before the court a day after they were detained by RAB personnel from their Mohammadpur residence on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the investigator of the case, Wahidul Islam produced Mr Rassel and Ms Shamima to the court around 2:00 pm with a 10-day remand prayer.

The court also rejected a petition filed by the couple seeking bail and scrapping the remand plea.

Barrister Moniruzzaman Asad and advocate JR Khan Robin stood for Evaly in the court hearing while public prosecutor Abdullah Abu represented the state.

During the hearing, Mr Abu said, "Evaly has taken money from millions of people through advertisements. The plaintiff of the case couldn't receive any product even after seven months of payment."

"They (Evaly) are not giving the product or the money. Rather, they are giving threat when the customers are asking for money. So, they need to be held on remand."

However, Evaly lawyers opposed the remand plea, saying that there was no criminal allegation against them and the allegations were raised from a business deal.

Evaly could not supply products in time due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they said.

The lawyers said they have already submitted a statement to finance ministry seeking six months' time to pay back customers.

Earlier in the day, RAB during a briefing told the media that the much-talked-about e-commerce company has the current liabilities of more than Tk 10 billion.

The kingpin Rassel planned to evade responsibilities by declaring the company bankrupt, said RAB legal and media wing director Khandaker Al Moin.

Mr Rassel acknowledged assets valued over several crore taka, whereas Evaly's bank account got only Tk 3.0 million, he told the media.

Evaly planned to lure new clients into paying the old ones partially or delivering a portion of their total orders, said Mr Moin.

The RAB also said the Rassel-Nasrin couple had a very little investment in the company as they had intention to transfer the liabilities to others.

During questioning, Mr Moin said, the Evaly CEO acknowledged that he had willfully adopted this unscrupulous business model.

Initially, the duo attempted to establish a 'brand value' of the company and sell it to a renowned global company, he added.

On Thursday, RAB arrested the couple from their Mohammadpur residence following a case filed against them with Gulshan police station. In a recent report to commerce ministry, Evaly revealed that it owed over Tk 2.058 billion to its merchants until July 15.

However, the shopping portal did not mention any deadline to make payments to the merchants.

Until July 15, Evaly owed about Tk 3.11 billion to customers, it said on August 26 in response to the ministry's show-cause notice.

The firm has more than 200,000 customers. To date, more than 7.0-million products against purchase orders have been delivered 'successfully', it added. The Anti-Corruption Commission launched an enquiry into Evaly's irregularities following a request from the ministry on July 04. It later wrote to different government agencies, seeking documents linked to the debt-ridden Evaly.

Last week, an inter-ministerial committee recommended taking legal action against Evaly for breaching relevant rules and regulations.

On August 24, commerce ministry asked the central bank seeking detailed bank transactions and financial information of 10 platforms, including Evaly. They were Dhamaka, E-orange, Sirajganj Shop, Aladiner Prodip, Boom Boom, Adyen Mart, Needs, Qcoom.com and Alesha Mart.

Meanwhile, a section of merchants and clients staged av demonstration in Shahbagh area demanding release of the couple in the hope of getting back their money.

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