The High Court has issued a rule asking why an order should not be passed to refund the money paid by 419 customers of the e-commerce platform E-orange.
The court has instructed the secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and other concerned parties to respond to the rule within four weeks.
The rule was issued yesterday (9 December) by a High Court bench comprising Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Mubina Asaf following a hearing, confirmed Advocate Khaleda Chowdhury Kochi who represented the petitioners.
Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Mahfuz Bin Yusuf and Assistant Attorney General Ekramul Kabir appeared on behalf of the state.
The case stems from a writ petition filed in August by 419 customers of E-orange, including Abdul Barek, Md Bellal, Mamun Akhand, Wasim Akram, and Imran Hossain, who sought the return of their money after failing to receive the products they had ordered.
Earlier, in March 2022, six customers named Md Afzal Hossain, Md Arafat Ali, Md Tariqul Alam, Sakibul Islam, Rana Khan, and Md Habibullah Zahid filed a writ in the High Court on behalf of 547 customers who were defrauded by buying products worth Tk77 crore from E-orange.
The writ sought a ruling with instructions to form a committee comprised of officials from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) to investigate the E-orange owner Sonia Mehzabin, her brother Sohel Rana along with people and institutions that are involved with the company and their personal assets.
After the preliminary hearing of the writ, the High Court ordered an investigation into the allegations of cheating customers, embezzlement and money laundering against E-orange.
