The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided six locations in Bengaluru on September 2 as part of an investigation into the Chinese loan app issue under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The searches included the offices of Chinese-owned Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Paytm Payment Services, and Cashfree Payments. So far, Rs 17 crore has been taken from their merchant IDs and bank accounts. The case is based on 18 FIRs that the Bengaluru Cyber Crime Police Station filed against organisations and individuals in connection with their participation in the extortion and harassment of members of the public who had taken out small loans through the mobile apps they operated, according to the financial investigation agency.
Chinese people are in charge of these organisations. To generate the proceeds of crime, these companies used forged Indians’ identity documents and turned them into fake directors. Through different merchant IDs and accounts held with banks and payment gateways, the entities performed their illegal business, according to a statement from the ED.
The financial investigation agency stated that ‘The entities were also not operating from their registered addresses.’ Cashfree Payments responded to the searches by telling India Today TV that they had ‘extended our diligent co-operation to the ED operations, providing them with the required and necessary information on the same day of enquiry.’ ‘Our operations and on-boarding processes adhere to the PMLA and KYC directions, and we will continue to do so in the time to follow,’ the spokesperson said.
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