The commerce ministry today asked Evaly to explain the whereabouts of around Tk 338 crore that the ecommerce platform owes to customers and merchants.

The ministry, in a notice, also sought an explanation on why legal action should not be taken against Evaly to uphold the interest of customers and merchants.

Hafizur Rahman, additional secretary of the ministry, said if the answer is not satisfactory, a committee will be formed to decide the next course of action.

According to the investigation report of Bangladesh Bank, it is learned that Evaly has a liability of Tk 213.94 crore to customers and Tk 189.85 crore to merchants, the notice read.

It has an asset amounting to Tk 91.69 crore and of the amount, the current asset was Tk 65.17 crore, it said.

The ministry has said it has noticed that despite receiving advance payment from the customer Evaly is not delivering the product on time.

The merchants from whom it gets products are also not being paid. As a result, a large number of buyers and sellers are likely to suffer financially, the ministry said in the notice.

It also wanted to know how much money Evaly has received from the customers until July 15 from the beginning of its business.

Evaly has also been asked to submit detailed information on how much money it has so far paid to the merchants.