ED Files First Charge Sheet Against Vivo-India, Others; 4 Arrested: Report

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 others taken into custody were Guangwen, also known as Andrew Kuang, a Chinese national, along with Chartered Accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday 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.

As part of the investigation, four people, including Hari Om Rai, the Managing Director of Lava International mobile company, were arrested. The others taken into custody were Guangwen, also known as Andrew Kuang, a Chinese national, along with Chartered Accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik.

In its remand documents presented to a local court, the Enforcement Directorate 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.

Notably, earlier this week, the Patiala House Court in Delhi issued a new notice to the jail superintendent, instructing them to provide a medical status report on the cardiology and gastroenterology conditions of Rai, the Managing Director of domestic handset maker Lava International.

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."

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.