The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday, July 7, said that the Indian arm of Chinese smartphone maker Vivo "remitted" almost 50% of its turnover, which is Rs 62,476 crore, mainly to China in order to avoid paying taxes here. A day earlier, the federal agency had conducted raids at 44 locations in 22 states, associated with smartphone maker Vivo. The federal probe agency also said that it has seized funds worth Rs 465 crore kept in 119 bank accounts by various entities, Rs 73 lakh cash and 2 kilogram gold bars after its pan-India raids that were launched on July 5 against Vivo Mobile India Private Limited and its 23 associated companies. It said an ex-director of Vivo, Bin Lou, left India in 2018 after incorporating a number of companies that are now under its scanner.
The ED alleged that "employees of Vivo India, including some Chinese nationals, did not cooperate with the search proceedings and tried to abscond, remove and hide digital devices which were retrieved by the search teams." Earlier in the day, two of the Chinese directors of Solan, a Himachal Pradesh-based company that was associated with Vivo, fled India, after the ED registered a case of money laundering. The enforcement agency said that it has received information about money laundering worth to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore during the raids.
In April, the ED seized Rs 5,551.27 crore of Xiaomi Technology India Private Ltd lying in the bank accounts under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) connection with the illegal outward remittances made by the company.
