Pramesh S Jain &Dr.Thomas (Special Correspondent)
Officials of Directorate of Enforcement carried out search operations at five locations in and around Bengaluru under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering case related the Chinese Loan App Case.
The case is based on 18 FIRs registered by Cyber Crime Police Station,Bengaluru City against numerous entities and persons in connection with their involvement in extortion and harassment to the public who had availed small amounts of loans through the mobile apps.
During PMLA investigation,it has emerged that these loan app firms are being controlled and operated by Chinese Nationals.
The modus operandi of these entities is using forged documents of Indians and making these Indians dummy directors of those entities and generating proceeds of crime.
It has come to notice that the said entities were doing their suspected and illegal business through various Merchant IDs/Accounts held with Payment Gateways and banks.
Based on the investigation conducted and inputs received from the Central Crime Branch, Bengaluru city,the search operation was carried out in this case.
The premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd and the Bank’s compliance offices related to these entities were covered in the search operation.
During the search operation,it was noticed that the said entities were generating proceeds of crime through various Merchant IDs,/Accounts held with Payment Gateways/banks and they have submitted fake addresses in KYC documents.
An amount of Rs.78 Crore has been seized from merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese persons-controlled entities.
So far the ED has seized a total amounts Rs.95 Crore. Further investigation is in under progress.
