New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday extended the custody of four people, who were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the money laundering case against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo, for three more days. The four people include the managing director (MD) of Lava International Mobile Company, a Chinese national, and two chartered accountants (CAs).
Additional Sessions Judge Devendra Kumar Jangla granted the ED’s request to keep the accused in its custody till October 16 for further interrogation. The ED had sought 10 days’ custody of the accused, saying that it had to confront them with 13 witnesses and evidence. The defense counsel opposed the ED’s plea, alleging that the central agency was “grossly violating procedures” and had no concrete evidence against the accused.
The four accused – Lava International Company MD Hariom Rai, Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang and CAs Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik – were produced in the court on Friday after their three-day custody period ended. They were arrested on October 10 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED had raided the premises of Vivo and its associates in July last year, claiming to have unearthed a massive money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and several Indian companies. The ED had alleged that Vivo had “illegally transferred” a whopping amount of Rs 62,476 crore to China by using shell companies and fake invoices to evade taxes in India.
