The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached Rs 76.67 crore, lying in various bank accounts and payment gateways pertaining to Chinese loan app companies and their Indian associates under money laundering charge.
The ED initiated investigation on the basis of various FIRs registered by CID, Bengaluru based on the complaints received from various customers, who had availed loan and faced harassment from the recovery agent of these money lending companies.
The amount attached by ED pertains to seven companies out of which three are Fintech companies---Mad Elephant Network Technology Private Limited, Baryonyx Technology Private Limited and Cloud Atlas Future Technology Private Limited.
These companies are controlled by the accused Chinese nationals and three NBFCs registered with RBI styled as X10 Financial Services Private Limited, Track Fin-ed Private Limited and Jamnadas Morarjee Finance Private Limited, the ED said.
The fintech companies have agreements with the NBFCs for disbursement of loans through digital lending apps.
The amount attached by ED also includes the amount of fee charged by Razorpay Software Private Limited to the extent of Rs 86.44 lakh for not conducting due diligence in case of a company enrolled with it for disbursement and collection of loans.
Money laundering investigation by ED revealed that these Chinese loan apps offered loans to individuals and levied a usurious rate of interest and processing fees.
The loan apps firms, through their recovery agents, resorted to systematic abuse, harassment and threatening to the defaulters through the call centers for coercive recovery of the loans.