Vivo Delhi HC allows Chinese phone maker Vivo to use accounts frozen by ED but with a rider
Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed Chinese phone maker Vivo to operate its bank accounts in India, frozen by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case, media reports said.
Giving relief to Vivo, the court said that it can operate the accounts while ensuring that a balance of Rs 250 crore is always maintained in its accounts, according to the reports.
Issuing the order, the court granted one week's time to ED to respond to Vivo's plea seeking the quashing of freezing orders.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 28.
The court's direction came after HC asked ED to consider unfreezing some of Vivo's accounts to pay for its liabilities.
On July 5, ED raided Vivo's premises in 44 locations across India, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Maharashtra. under the provisions of the prevention of money laundering act (PMLA).
The agency alleged that Vivo remitted about Rs 62,476 crore of its turnover to China between 2017 and 2021 to evade tax liabilities in India.
This amounted to half of the Chinese company's turnover of Rs 1.25 trillion, the ED stated not mentioning the time period of the transaction.
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.
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