ED files chargesheet against Vivo in money laundering case
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New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate informed that it has filed its first charge sheet against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo-India and some others linked to its probe on money laundering, PTI reported.
Sources told PTI that a prosecution complaint was filed before the court of Special Judge Kiran Gupta here on Wednesday under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and vivo-India has been named an accused apart from those arrested in this case.
The judge posted the matter for consideration on December 13.
The federal probe agency arrested four people, including mobile company Lava International's MD Hari Om Rai, in October as part of this investigation. The others who were taken into custody were Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang and chartered accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik. They are in judicial custody at present.
Vivo-India did not respond to an email sent in this regard.
The ED had claimed in its remand papers before a local court here that the alleged activities of the four arrested accused enabled vivo-India to make wrongful gains that were detrimental to the economic sovereignty of India.
It 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 ED had then 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".
Lava International MD 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.
"He has not derived any monetary benefit, nor has he engaged in any transaction with vivo-India or any entity allegedly related to vivo, let alone having been associated with any alleged 'proceeds of crime'," Rai's lawyer had told the court.