Vivo PMLA case: Court takes cognizance on ED charge sheet filed against Chinese National, Lava's MD and others
Dec 20, 2023
New Delhi (India), December 20 : The Patiala House Court of Delhi on Wednesday took cognizance of a prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case related to the Chinese mobile company Vivo involving Chinese national Guangwen Kuang, Lava International's MD Hariom Rai Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik under the different sections of the Money Laundering Act.
All the accused are presently in judicial custody in the matter.
The court, while taking cognizance, ordered to supply hard copies of the chargesheet to the accused lawyers.
According to the sources, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also named Vivo Company as an accused in the matter of allegedly cheating the Government of India, it also stated that the company has set up an intricate network in India.
According to the ED, certain Chinese shareholders of Grand Prospect International Communication Private Ltd, incorporated the company based on forged identification documents and falsified addresses.
During the inquiry, certain fraudulent activities were found by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The said company was not reported as a subsidiary of Vivo in the official records, whereas the said company publicly projects itself to be a subsidiary of Vivo, said ED.
ED further alleged that Director and Share Holder Zhang Jie used a false driving licence to apply for a Director Identification Number (DIN) for giving his Shillong address and also used his fake driving licence to open the bank account. With the allegations of cheating, an FIR in Police Station Kalkaji, South East Delhi, was registered under Section 417/120B/420 of the IPC and another FIR was also registered under Section 417/420/468/471/120B of the IPC by the Economic Offence Wing, Delhi Police, based on the complaint filed by Manjit Singh, the then Deputy Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, NCT of Delhi.
ED further alleged that soon after the incorporation of M/s Vivo, India, 19 more companies, including M/s GPICPL, were incorporated across India, completely controlled by Chinese nationals. The accused, Bin Luo, was the founder and first director of Vivo India, GPICPL and all other 18 entities at the time of their incorporation and the accused, Nitin Garg, had assisted in the incorporation of most of the companies of Vivo Group.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, raids were on the premises of the accused on October 9th and seized cash amounting to more than Rs 10 lakh and arrested four accused, who have been identified as Guangwen Kyang, aka Andrew Kuang, the Chinese national, Hari Om Rai, the MD of Lava International, Rajan Malik, and Nitin Garg, a Chartered Accountant.
The probe revealed that the PMLA investigation by ED was initiated by registering a money laundering case on February 3, 2022.
