Mir Group, a Chittagong wholesale dealer, has courted trouble for the second time within a month. Its misdemeanour this time was to force buyers to buy oil with sugar, thus inviting penalty and a jail term for one of its managers. A mobile court led by Chittagong Executive Magistrate Tahmilur Rahman raided the premises of Ibnat traders, a Mir Group associate, and found that the firm was compelling retailers to buy oil along with every purchase of sugar.A staffer at Ibnat even alleged that the workers were acting on the management’s instructions.A fine of Tk 2.2 million was imposed on the Mir Group, while a director-Md Hussai n was sent to jail.
Speaking to media magistrate Tahmilur Rahman said the administration had been receiving complaints about Mir for some time. “Today, the complaints have been found to be true,” he said.. After the fines were paid, the three were set free.Md Hussain, however, was imposed a fine of Tk 0.9 million and was also sent to jail.
Retailer Khurshid Alam told that customers were forced to buy “sugar at Tk 7,800 per three bags of 50 kgs sugar each and a tin of ediable oil with the purchase at Tk 1,400 per tin”.He said that the Mir Group had issued a curt fiat, saying sugar would be sold only if oil was purchased with it.Mir Group staffer Kanchan Majumder said, “The management forced us to sell oil with sugar. Otherwise, the retailers were not to be provided with sugar.”
Mir Group manager Hussain, however, refuted the charge, saying, “The workers misunderstood our instructions. We said oil could be provided to those ready to buy. I never intended compulsion.”
Chittagong Deputy Commissioner Mejbahuddin said that Mahbubul Alam, the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry President, had assured him that “such incidents will not happen again”.
