NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Chinese phone manufacturer Vivo India‘s interim CEO in India, Hong Xuquan, alias Terry, among three high-profile persons taken into custody on Saturday in its ongoing money laundering case where the agency has alleged the company has laundered over Rs 62,000 crore in illegal remittances.
Sources said two other persons arrested in the case are Harinder Dahiya, CFO of Vivo India, and Hemant Munjal, a consultant with the company.Investigation is in progress as the agency will further question the accused in custody. They were produced before a court who sent them to ED custody for three days.
In October, ED had arrested four persons, including a Chinese national, Guangwen Kyang, alias Andrew Kuang; Hari Om Rai, MD of Lava International – a leading Indian phone manufacturer; and Vivo’s chartered accountant Nitin Garg. The four accused are in judicial custody. ED has also filed a chargesheet in the case in the first week of this month.ED is probing suspicious transactions of over Rs 62,000 crore, which were remitted by the company to China from Rs 1.25 lakh crore of receipts from its Indian operations since 2014, according to sources. ED’s money laundering case is based on an FIR registered by Delhi Police probing alleged forged addresses registered by the Chinese company for its Indian subsidiaries.
Searches carried out by ED on the premises linked to Vivo last year had kicked up a diplomatic row when Chinese foreign ministry and its embassy in India issued statements saying probes by Indian agencies are damaging confidence of foreign entities investing & operating in India.