Chinese National and Lava International Managing Director Arrested by ED in PMLA Case Related to Vivo Mobiles
In a major case against Chinese mobile phone maker vivo India Pvt Ltd, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested four persons, including a Chinese national and CEO of Lava International, in connection with the investigation into an alleged money laundering case.
An ED source told IANS that the agency has arrested four accused, identified as Guangwen Kyang alias Andrew Kuang, a Chinese national; Hari Om Rai, PhD, Lava International; Rajan Malik and Nitin Garg, Chartered Accountant (CA).
The ED action comes almost over a year after it conducted searches at 48 locations across the country belonging to vivo Mobiles India Private Limited and its 23 affiliates such as Grand Prospect International Communication Pvt Ltd (GPICPL).
According to the ED, vivo Mobiles India Pvt Ltd was incorporated on August 1, 2014 as a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Multi Accord Ltd and was registered with ROC Delhi.
GPICPL was registered on December 3, 2014 with ROC Shimla with registered addresses at Solan, Himachal Pradesh and Gandhinagar, Jammu. “Zhengshen Ou, Bin Lou and Zhang Jie established the said company with the help of Nitin Garg, California. Bin Lou left India on April 26, 2018. Zhengshen Ou and Zhang Jie left India in 2021,” the Financial Investigation Agency said.
The ED investigation had revealed that the ED’s PMLA probe was initiated by registering a money laundering case on 02/03/2022 under Section 417, 120B of the Delhi Police and an FIR at the Kalkaji Police Station in the national capital. 420 IPC, 1860 against GPICPL and its director, shareholders and certification professionals etc. on a complaint filed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
According to the FIR, GPICPL and its shareholders had used fake identity documents and fake addresses at the time of incorporation. The allegations were found to be true as investigation revealed that the addresses mentioned by the GPICPL executives did not belong to them but were in fact an administrative building and a senior bureaucrat’s house.
