Delhi court extends ED custody of Vivo executives by three days in PMLA case

A Delhi court on Friday extended ED custody of four accused individuals, including the Managing Director of Lava International, by three days in connection with a money laundering case related to Chinese smartphone-maker Vivo.

Hari Om Rai, the MD of Lava International, Chinese national Guangwen Kyang aka Andrew Kuang, Rajan Malik, and chartered accountant Nitin Garg were produced before Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala of Patiala House Courts on expiry of three-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand.

The ED sought their 10-day remand, however, the judge granted only three more days till October 16.

The court noted that the custody of the accused persons has been sought due to their non-cooperation and evasive attitude and deliberate attempts to evade/mislead the probe.

"It is also contended that custodial interrogation is required in the interest of investigation to find out the deep-rooted conspiracy for commission of offence under PMLA," it said.

However, counsel for the accused, told the court that they have been called various times to join the investigation and they have always cooperated. The probe agency had arrested the four persons on October 10.

A source had earlier told IANS that the arrests were made after the financial probe agency carried out searches at the premises of the four accused on Monday and recovered cash to the tune of Rs 10 lakh.

The ED action came more than a year after it carried out searches at 48 locations across the country belonging to Vivo Mobiles India Private Ltd and its 23 associated companies such as Grand Prospect International Communication Pvt Ltd (GPICPL), and claimed that it has busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies.

According to the ED, Vivo Mobiles India Pvt Ltd was incorporated on August 1, 2014 as a subsidiary of Multi Accord Ltd, a Hong Kong-based company, and was registered at ROC Delhi. GPICPL was registered on December 3, 2014 at ROC Shimla, with registered addresses of Solan, Himachal Pradesh, and Gandhinagar, Jammu. The PMLA investigation by ED was initiated by registering a money laundering case on February 3, 2022 on the basis of an FIR registered at the Kalkaji police station in the national capital by Delhi Police against GPICPL, its director, shareholders and certifying professionals etc., on the basis of a complaint filed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.