Destiny, Jubok clients can be compensated by 50 to 60pc: Tipu Munshi

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Sunday said that it's possible to give 50 to 60 per cent money back to the cheated clients of the Destiny Group and Jubok by selling the assets of the two companies which collapsed amid widespread fraud.
"To my consideration, the cheated clients can get
    up to 50 to 60 per cent of the money back.... But the issue remains pending with the court for settlement", he said while addressing a workshop organized by the Bangladesh Competition Commission (BCC) for the members of Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) at the BCC office in the city.  
The BCC organized the event to discuss the issues for creating a fair competition environment in the market through implementation of the Competition Law.
Tipu said that he discussed the issue with the law minister who informed him that the law ministry has been working on how to compensate the Destiny and Jubok clients. As per the estimation by different government bodies, Destiny and Jubok have about Tk 7,000 crore assets.
He said debate is now going on whether there should be new law or the existing law is enough to deal with the online business across the country.
The commerce minister's remarks came against the backdrop of the scepticism that although the owner of Evaly was arrested for fraud, it's thousands of cheated clients might not get money back due to weakness in the legal and administrative system.  
He said there are 30,000 online business platforms operating in the country. But the government cannot shut down the entire business just because of the fraudulence by 10 to 15 companies.  
He said the government wants the e-commerce sector to run in a more disciplined way, shrugging off recent anomalies by some companies.    -UNB