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The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court wanted to know how the defrauded e-commerce customers could get their money back.
During the hearing on a case related to Multilevel Marketing (MLM) Company UniPay2U, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan put the question to the lawyer of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Tuesday.
The apex court said, "Those who have committed crimes may be punished. But what is the fate of the affected people? How can defrauded e-commerce customers get their money back?"
In reply ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said, "It's a matter of legal explanation. There is nothing specific in the laws."
"In the case of Destiny, the apex court asked the organization to pay back Tk 25 billion to the defrauded customers. It also gave a guideline in the order. However the guideline was not followed as Destiny didn't pay the money yet. Appeal of the Destiny case is pending. So we have to wait till the disposal of the appeal," the ACC lawyer also said.
Accounts of the UniPay2U were frozen in 2010. And cases were filed against the organization in 2011. However, in 2012, some of the investors secured a decree to get back their money. Later the decree execution court refused to execute the decree as it found the accounts frozen.
The investors then moved the HC and filed a revision petition against the order of the decree execution court. Upon hearing on the civil revision petition a High Court bench asked the authorities concerned to pay back the money of the investors who secured the decree for Tk 656.5 million.
The High Court bench passed the order without hearing the ACC. In this situation the ACC filed a petition with the Appellate Division against the HC order. Upon primary hearing on the appeal petition the Appellate Division issued a stay on the HC order and granted leave for detailed hearing on the matter.
The Appellate Division adjourned hearing on the petition party till February 06 in 2024.
Lawyers Sayed Ahmed Raza and Rafsan-Al-Alvi appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the investors.