The High Court on Wednesday directed several banks and other financial institutions to provide detailed information on e-commerce firm Evaly’s financial transactions, including information about the recipients or payees of any cheques, to the court-appointed board of directors of the company.
The financial institutions are--- BRAC Bank, Bank Asia, The City Bank, Dhaka Bank, Midland Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Modhumoti Bank, Southeast Bank, Community Bank, bKash Limited, Dutch Bangla Bank, Nagad Limited and Software soft Limited.
The managing directors and chief executive officers of these banks and financial institutions have been asked to comply with the order.
The High Court bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Md Mahbub Kabir Milon, court-appointed managing director of the company.
Barrister Morshed Ahmed Khan appeared in the court on behalf of Evaly’s managing director, while Barrister Syed Mahsib Hossain represented the customer who sought winding up of the company.
Barrister Khan said, “Detailed information of the financial transactions of the company is required to carry out an audit of the company which is running now. That is why we sought the court’s direction upon the concerned banks and other financial institutions so that they provide information over the transactions.”
Meanwhile, following another application filed by the court-appointed managing director of the company the High Court asked all the District and Sessions Judges, Chief Metropolitan Sessions Judges, Chief Metropolitan Magistrates and Chief Judicial Magistrates of the country to take necessary steps regarding the exclusion of the names of the present court-appointed Board of Directors from all the proceedings commenced under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act against the Evaly in connection with any cheque issued by former chairman of the company Shamima Nasrin and former managing director and chief executive officer Mohammad Russel.
Barrister Morshed Ahmed Khan also said, “Many customers and creditors of the company are filing cheque dishonour suit against the Evaly in where they are mentioning the names of the members of the present Board of Directors as the respondents, whereas the cheques were issued by the former managing director and the CEO of the company in this circumstance the present Board of Directors filed the application for court’s direction.”
If any customer or creditor has any claims to the company then he or she has to come to the High Court directly and the court will look into the matter, added the lawyer.
Following a petition filed by a customer the same High Court bench on September 22 in 2021 directed the concerned bodies to be restrained from selling, transferring or otherwise disposing of the assets of the Evaly till disposal of the case filed with the High Court.
Later the court on October 18 in 2021 formed a 5-member body to oversee the overall management and the company affairs of the Evaly Limited.
The court-appointed Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik, a former judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, as the chairman of the company and Mahbub Kabir Milon, an additional secretary of the government, as the ex officio managing director.