NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first charge sheet in connection with the ongoing money laundering case against Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo and several others including Lava International managing director Hari Om Rai.
As per the reports, the complaint was lodged on Wednesday in a special court, invoking the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Vivo-India has been identified as an accused alongside individuals previously apprehended in connection with the case.
The four people arrested in the case are mobile company Lava’s Hari Om Rai, Chinese national Guangwen (also known as Andrew Kuang), and Chartered Accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik. It remitted `62,476 crore, nearly 50% of the turnover out of India, mainly to China. The remittances were made in order to disclose huge losses in Indian incorporated companies to avoid taxes payment in India, said ED in its statement earlier.
The agency conducted raids on Vivo-India and its affiliated individuals in July of the preceding year, exposing what it claimed to be a significant money laundering network involving Chinese nationals and various Indian companies. ED conducted raids in over 48 locations last year including Vivo premises and its 23 associated firms such as Grand Prospect International Communication Pvt Ltd (GPICPL).
In a recent court statement, Hari Om Rai said his association with Vivo and its representatives ceased in 2014, refuting any connection to the alleged proceeds of crime. Vivo Mobiles India was incorporated in 2014 as a subsidiary of Multi Accord, a Hong Kong-based company. GPICPL was incorporated by Zhengshen Ou, Bin Lou and Zhang Jie with the help of one Nitin Garg, CA. As per ED, Bin Lou left India in 2018. Zhengshen Ou and Zhang Jie left India in 2021.
The probe agency said Bin Lou was also an ex-director of Vivo. He had incorporated multiple firms across the country in various states, a total of 18 companies around the same time, just after the incorporation of Vivo in the year 2014-15 and further another Chinese National Zhixin Wei had incorporated further 4 companies.