ED files 1st charge sheet against Vivo India & others in money laundering case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first charge sheet in connection with itsmoney launderingprobe against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo, and others, a source said on Thursday.

According to sources, the financial probe agency filed a charge sheet in court on Wednesday against Guangwen Kyang a.k.a. Andrew Kuang, a Chinese national; Hari Om Rai, the MD of Lava International; Rajan Malik, and Nitin Garg, the Chartered Accountant.

A source said that the ED filed a 400-page charge sheet against the accused in the case.

The court will take cognizance of the charge sheet on December 13, the source said.

The ED had arrested four persons on October 10. It had then claimed in its remand papers at a court here that the alleged activities of the four enabled Vivo India to make wrongful gains that were detrimental to the economic sovereignty of India.

The ED in its remand note had alleged that some companies were found to have transferred huge amount of funds to Vivo India.

"Further, out of the total sale proceeds of Rs 1,25,185 crore, Vivo India remitted Rs 62,476 crore i.e., almost 50 per cent of the turnover out of India, mainly to China," the ED had claimed.

"These remittances were made in order to disclose huge losses in Indian incorporated companies to avoid payment of taxes in India," it had said.

Following the searches at multiple locations across the country, the agency had seized 119 bank accounts of various entities with gross balance to the tune of Rs 465 crore including FDs to the tune of Rs 66 crore of Vivo India, 2 kg gold bars, and cash to the tune of approximately Rs 73 lakh, the ED had said.