The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday trashed allegations that the statements of the officials of Xiaomi India were taken under coercion by the agency. It termed such claims as not only “untrue and baseless” but also an outcome of “afterthought.”“The officials of Xiaomi India deposed their statements before ED under FEMA voluntarily in the most conducive environment on various occasions,” the agency said in a statement here.
“The statements were deposed by them on the basis of documents/information provided by the company during the course of investigation. Their statements corroborate with the written replies submitted to ED and the materials on record,” it said.The agency said statements of Xiaomi’s Global Vice President and Managing Director of Xiaomi India Manu Kumar Jain were recorded on April 13, 14, 21 and 26. The statements of Xiaomi’s Chief Financial Officer Head Sameer B S Rao were recorded on March 25, April 14, 19, 21, 22 and 26.
“However, no complaint was filed by them at any point of time during recording of statements at various occasions. Last statement of the officials of the company was recorded on 26.04.2022 and the seizure order was passed on 29.04.2022. It appears that the allegation now made after passage of substantial time is an afterthought. The allegations are baseless and far from the facts, it further said.
It is reiterated that ED is a professional agency with strong work ethics and there was no coercion or threat to the officers of the company at any point of time, it added. The ED’s clarification came in response to certain news reports that said Xiaomi alleged in a recent filing before the Karnataka High Court that its top executives were threatened with "physical violence and coercion" during their questioning by ED investigators in Bengaluru.