India’s anti-money laundering agency said on Thursday that it seized 119 bank accounts containing 4.65 billion rupees ($58.75 million) from Indian businesses linked with Chinese smartphone maker Vivo for tax evasion.
The Indian Enforcement Directorate said that Vivo India remitted 62.47 billion rupees ($7.9 million), or almost 50 percent, of its total turnover outside the country, mainly to China.
“These remittances were made in order to disclose huge losses in Indian incorporated companies to avoid payment of taxes in India,” the directorate said in a statement.
It conducted searches in 48 locations belonging to Vivo India and 23 related entities on July 5, after an initial probe found that shareholders used “forged identification documents and falsified addresses at the time of incorporation.”…