Just a few days ago, we learned that the ED had charged Vivo with money laundering (Enforcement Directorate). An updated study on this case has now uncovered some additional intriguing information.
An NDTV article claims that the ED has discovered that Vivo India has been returning a sizeable portion of its Indian revenue back to China. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer appears to be taking this action to help avoid paying taxes in India. According to reports, the brand's Indian subsidiary remitted home over 62,476 crores INR (or 7.87 billion US dollars), or about 50% of its total regional revenue.
For those who are not aware, we described in our previous story how the ED had undertaken raids across India in areas connected to the brand and had confiscated a total of 465 crores INR in cash (roughly 58 million US Dollars). In order to avoid paying taxes in India, the ED claimed that "These remittances were made in order to disclose significant losses in Indian incorporated companies." In other words, Vivo has discovered a means to avoid paying taxes, which might not be entirely legal.
Notably, 119 bank accounts connected to Vivo's Indian business have also been banned by the ED. Even while incorporating multiple companies, it discovered fake documents. Additionally, it was discovered that the addresses listed in these documents were fake. The ED said, "Vivo India personnel, including some Chinese nationals, did not participate with the search proceedings and tried to flee, delete, and hide digital devices that were collected by the search teams."
