A Delhi court extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of three executives from Vivo-India for an additional two days, ANI reported on Tuesday. This arrest is connected to an ongoing money laundering investigation involving the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo and other entities. The three individuals appeared before Special Judge Kiran Gupta at Patiala House Court following the conclusion of the initial three-day ED custody, according to a report by news agency IANS.
The arrests were several months following the arrest of the four individuals—Hari Om Rai, Managing Director of Lava International; Chinese national Guangwen, also known as Andrew Kuang; along with Chartered Accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik—on October 10 of this year.
In its remand documents presented to a local court, the ED previously asserted that the actions of the four individuals facilitated Vivo-India in acquiring unjust gains, posing a threat to the economic sovereignty of India. ED had raided Vivo-India and its linked persons in July last year, claiming to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies.
The Chinese authorities sprang into action earlier this week and China’s foreign ministry was quoted as saying that the country will provide “consular protection” to Chinese citizens arrested in India and hopes that New Delhi fully recognizes the mutually beneficial nature of the business cooperation between our two countries.
The Enforcement Directorate, earlier this month, filed its first chargesheet in the money laundering investigation, implicating Chinese smartphone maker Vivo and others, said a report by news agency PTI, citing undisclosed sources. The prosecution complaint has been filed before a special court in New Delhi under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Vivo-India has been named an accused apart from those arrested in this case, the report added.
The ED had previosuly alleged that a whopping Rs 62,476 crore was “illegally” transferred by Vivo India to China to avoid payment of taxes in India. The company had said that it “firmly adheres to its ethical principles and remains dedicated to legal compliance.”
Rai had recently told a court here that though his company and Vivo-India were in talks to launch a joint venture in India a decade ago, he had nothing to do with the Chinese firm or its representatives since 2014, the PTI report added.
The agency filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR, on February 3 after studying a Delhi Police FIR of December last year against an associated company of vivo, Grand Prospect International Communication Pvt Ltd (GPICPL), its directors, shareholders and some others professionals.
To recall, the agency filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR, on February 3 after studying a Delhi Police FIR of December last year against an associated company of vivo, Grand Prospect International Communication Pvt Ltd (GPICPL), its directors, shareholders and some others professionals.