RJSC revokes reg of Bigo Bangla app

The registration of Bigo Bangla, a live-stream app that comes under investigation by law-enforcement agencies, has been cancelled for allegedly streaming obscene contents and laundering money.
The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) has cancelled the licence, an RJSC official concerned confirmed this to the FE on Monday.
Bigo Bangla Limited was registered with the RJSC on 02 October 2019. Its mother company is Singapore-based Bigo Technology that set sail in 2016.
The memorandum of association says Bigo Bangla is a company that works with software development. It also sells digital products in addition to manufacturing and trading computer parts.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been investigating the live-streaming platform, which was downloaded by millions of Bangladeshis living at home and abroad.
RJSC officials confirmed that Bigo lost its registration on grounds of streaming obscene contents and laundering money from Bangladesh.
The registration authorities received a request from the CID to cancel the licence.
Bigo Bangla has allegedly earned a total of Tk 1.08 billion from the people in Bangladesh through promoting obscenity on its mobile app.
The CID obtained substantial evidence to this end and sued Bigo Bangla managing director Yao Jie, a Chinese national, under the Money-Laundering Prevention Act.
He has allegedly siphoned off Tk 790 million from Bangladesh.
The CID filed the lawsuit on 25 September 2022.
Apart from Mr Jie, Bigo Bangla workers Najmul Haque and Arif Hossain, and named Monsoon Holdings, a company, have been made defendants in the case.
Other accused in the case are Bigo Bangla employees Mustafa Saif Reza, Arif Hossain, Najmul Haque and Asma-ul-Husna Sejuti.
The major users of Bigo app are youth and expatriate Bangladeshi citizens. The app is accused of spreading sexually insinuating dialogues, acting and gestures.
There are two types of accounts in the app. One of them is broadcaster which is mainly used by the youth.
The users have to buy virtual currencies -- diamond or bean -- to participate in live sessions.
The purchase process can be completed through conventional mobile financial services in Bangladesh.
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