ED conducts search operations against Vivo at more than 40 locations

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches at 44 places across the country in a money-laundering investigation against Chinese smartphone manufacturing company Vivo and related firms, officials said. The searches are being carried out under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at locations in several states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and others.

Chinese mobile companies have been under the government's radar for quite a long time, including several searches in the past that have been conducted by the Income Tax Division also by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs as well.

This was an alert that was flagged by the Ministry of Home Affairs that there have been serious violations that have been noted. So going forward on these violations and these alerts, the Enforcement Directorate is taking forward another set of searches.

Last month, the mobile phone manufacturer’s J&K distributor Grand Prospect International Communication came under the scanner of enforcement agencies after the corporate affairs ministry found that that at least two Chinese shareholders submitted forged documents and bogus Indian addresses.