The High Court on Tuesday asked the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit(BFIU) to inform it the steps it has taken on money laundering  by the country’s e-commerce firms.

The court also wanted to know from the National Board of Revenue’s (NBR) its policy on collecting VAT and Tax from these firms and the area  of work of the 16-member technical committee formed by the Commerce Ministry for the e-commerce sector.

The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order during a virtual hearing on the three writ petitions filed by some victims of fraudulence by e-commerce companies.

The court  adjourned the hearing on those writs till November 8 and asked the concerned government authorities  to inform the court about its queries within the period.

Advocate Md Anwarul Islam, Md Shishir Monir and Mohammad Humayun Kabir presented the petitioner’s side while Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar stood for the state.

Earlier on September 20, Supreme Court lawyer Anwarul Islam filed a writ petition seeking its directive on creating an independent e-commerce monitoring institute to protect the interest and rights of customers of e-commerce.

On September 22, another SC lawyer Mohammad Humayun Kabir filed a petition seeking its directive on forming a probe-committee to find out the responsible individual or government authority whose negligence or failure has caused lakhs of consumers monetary losses from renowned e-commerce like Evaly, e-orange, Dhamaka, Daraz, Qcoom, Aladiner Prodip, Alesha Mart, and Dalal Plus.

On September 23, thirty-three consumers of e-orange filed a writ to get back their money from the company.

The petition was filed by advocate Shishir Monir seeking bar on the senior officials and authority of the risky e-commerce companies like e-orange from leaving the country and seeking a committee for protecting the interest of both the customer and company coordinated by economists, IT experts, and stakeholders.