Vivo After Xiaomi, ED raids multiple locations of Chinese phone maker Vivo over money laundering
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is raiding multiple offices of Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Vivo and its sister concerns across India over a money laundering case, media reports said.
According to an ET report, the central agency has raided 44 locations across India under the provisions of the prevention of money laundering act (PMLA).
The company was being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and was later taken up by the ED over charges of PMLA violations.
Vivo's distributor in Jammu and Kashmir had come under the scanner of the law enforcement agencies after the government found that at least two Chinese shareholders in the company had submitted forged documents and false Indian addresses.
The case was taken up by the economic offences wing of the Delhi Police.
The Chinese phone companies have been under the government's scanner since last two years.
On April 29, the ED had seized the assets of Chinese mobile company Xiaomi India under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, and froze its bank assets worth over Rs 5500 crores. On May 5, the Karnataka High Court stayed that order as the company said that it operated the seized accounts only for the purpose of carrying out day-to-day activities.
The judgment of the case is set to be passed today at the Karnataka High Court.
According to Live Law the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the Competent Authority appointed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act,1999 (FEMA) to issue a notice of hearing to Xiaomi Technology India Pvt Ltd and hear the parties concerned and pass appropriate orders in regards to the challenge raised by the company on the seizure order passed by the Enforcement Directorate.
Xiaomi India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the China-based Xiaomi group.
The ED had initiated the probe over allegations of illegal remittances made by Xiaomi in February this year.
The agency alleged that Xiaomi began its operations in India in 2014 and started remitting the money from 2015.
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