Peacock procured products from the four companies in Bangladesh a year and half ago, before declaring bankruptcy
Four Bangladeshi readymade garment (RMG) companies have filed a case against Edinburgh Woollen Mill, or EWM Group, the parent company of UK brand Peacock, for not paying Tk5.9 crore.
The four companies are Designtex Knitwear Limited, Designtex Fashions Limited, Knit Bazaar (Pvt) Limited and Bottoms Gallery (Pvt) Limited.
They also said that the managing directors of the four companies jointly filed the case with the joint district judge’s court in Dhaka on March 14 alleging that EWM was trying to evade payment on the pretext that its subsidiary company Peacock, which imported the products, was bankrupt.
Barrister Imtiaz Moinul Islam, counsel for Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said that EWM deliberately filed for bankruptcy to avoid paying dues to sourcing companies.
Peacock procured products from the four companies in Bangladesh a year and half ago, before declaring bankruptcy.
Later, Purepay and Anglo Global reportedly took over the company.
According to the case dossier, British billionaire Philip Day is the owner of EWM while Peacock, Purepay and Anglo Global are subsidiaries of this company.
The bank information shows that Philip Day was in possession of Tk2,670 crore in profit and EWM Tk12,950 crore as of March 2, 2019.
EWM is a group of companies while Purepay and Anglo are its subsidiaries.
As a result, it is not clear why EWM will not be able to pay Tk5.9 crore. Moreover, declaring a company of the same group as bankrupt and buying the bankrupt company through the group’s two other companies while not paying all the creditors is nothing but fraud, said Barrister Imtiaz.
The plaintiffs contended that EWM has maneuvered Peacock into becoming bankrupt with the intention to cheat its creditors.
According to the statement of the case, the EWM Dhaka liaison office of Peacock is represented by its country head from the Uttara area in the capital.
The case also reads that EWM shockingly put Peacock in administration for no valid reason and then it used two of its dormant companies to bring Peacock from administration and to do this fraudulent venture.
In early November 2020, EWM Group detached its connections with the defendants no. 4 and 5 i.e. Anglo Global and PurePay and on 16.11.2020, declared Peacock to be in administration and then very cunningly brought Peacock out of administration through common director Mr Simpson using the defendant companies, creating an innuendo that Peacock is now owned by completely new companies.
However, not only the plaintiffs but also a total of 26 RMG factories have been defrauded in this way who complained to the BGMEA and the matter had been taken very seriously by the apex body of the apparel manufacturers.
The immediate past president and the current president both have communicated with EWM and other concerned authorities over email and letters stating this non-payment situation and the matter was also taken up to the governor of Bangladesh Bank to extend his help in getting the payment, the case stated.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, KM Rafiqul Islam, managing director of Designtex Fashions Limited, said that they exported products of worth Tk3.9 crore in 2020 and Peacock received it from the port.
“But they didn’t pay the payment. Not only us, there are more than 20 factories who were defrauded in this way. The owners of the factories contacted us and asked to work together,” he added.
He also said that the total amount of payment owed will be around $3.5 million.
