The High Court has asked the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to submit a report within two weeks on revenue realised against the transactions made by the scam-hit e-commerce platform e-Orange.
It has also given the same time for the home ministry to inform it about their steps to bring back Sohel Rana, a suspended police officer who is involved with the e-Orange scam, to the country.
The two government bodies were asked to submit their compliance reports over the issues and the court has fixed February 19 this year for further hearing on them. Appropriate action would be taken against them if they fail to submit their compliance within the period, also warned the court.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order on Sunday after hearing a writ petition filed in this regard.
Meanwhile, the High Court has expressed its dissatisfaction with the home ministry due to failure to inform the court about their steps to bring back Sohel Rana within the last three months granted to them.
Earlier the HC on November 3 in 2022 asked the Home Ministry to inform about their steps over bringing back Sohel Rana. Later the Ministry was granted two-week time more for complying with the HC order. However, they could not carry out the HC order.
Barriser Md Abdul Qaium appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the writ petitioners, while senior lawyer Shamim Khaled Ahmed represented the Bangladesh Financial Intelligent Unit (BFIU), lawyer AKM Fazlul Haque appeared for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the state in the case hearing.
Lawyer Md Abdul Qaium said, “The High Court on November 3 last year asked the NBR and the Home Ministry to inform it whether any revenue has been realized against the transactions done by the e-Orange and about their steps to bring back Sohel Rana. However, they didn’t submit any report over the issues. Rather they sought more time. Hearing the parties, the court granted them time.”
On behalf of 547 defrauded consumers, Afjal Hossain, Arafat Ali, Tarequl Alam, Sakibul Islam Shohag, Rana Khan and Habibullah Zahid filed the petition on April 3 in 2022.
Following the writ petition the High Court on April 7 in 2022 directed the BFIU and the ACC for conducting a probe into the allegations of money laundering against the owners of the e-Orange. The BFIU and ACC had also been ordered to submit reports after inquiring into the money laundering allegations before the HC in four months.
Complying with the order, the BFIU, ACC and the CID of Police submitted separate reports to the HC on November 3 last year. However, the HC on that day could not be happy with the reports submitted by the government organizations.
Then the HC asked the NBR and the home ministry to inform it over the revenue collection from the transactions done by the e-Orange and steps to bring back Sohel Rana.
