A group of 36 local garment companies today threatened to file a lawsuit against Expo Freight Limited (EFL) if it fails to pay $10.21 million in arrears to local suppliers within the next 15 days.

Legally, EFL is responsible for paying the arrears to the suppliers as it handled the shipment of goods to the now-bankrupt British retailer Debenhams, said Md Zahangir Alam, convener of the Debenhams vendors' community.

He made the remarks at a press conference held at the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) in Dhaka.

Alam said that these companies supplied garments worth $70 million before Debenhams went bankrupt due to the severe fallout from Covid-19.

"Out of the $70 million, the suppliers have received nearly $60 million over the last four years, but $10 million remains unpaid," Alam added.

Alam also mentioned that among the 36 suppliers, whose total export value exceeds $5 billion annually, many are small and medium-sized companies that cannot absorb such losses, and will face significant difficulties if the arrears are not paid on time.