At least 26 Bangladeshi apparel exporters recently became a victim of fraudulence after losing around US $ 71 million to a non-existent British company.
According to media reports, two Bangladesh-based garment buying houses: ASM Apparels Ltd. and Vanguard placed the orders on behalf of a British importer, Y&X, owned by a Bangladeshi-born British citizen named Manjur Billah, a few months ago.
Both the buying houses reportedly offered high prices than the average on the condition that the raw materials should be imported from nominated suppliers in China.
The issue came to light after the first batch of shipments were left unclaimed for over one month at a UK port, officials of one of the victim companies underlined.
“It is a big accident for our company as we never faced such fraudulence in our 20 years’ garment business,” said a General Manager of one of the companies, requesting anonymity.
A total of 8.5 million pieces of garment items were supposed to be shipped in favour of Y&X.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has been trying to find a solution to this issue after the victim companies brought the same to its notice.
“The BGMEA has already started the initiative to recover the money. We will send letters to the Bangladesh Embassy in the UK seeking information about the company and also lobby with the British Government to recover the due payments of the exporters,” said Mohammed Nasir, Vice President of the apex trade body of Bangladesh.
