The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said the Indian arm of Chinese smart phone maker Vivo and its associated companies “remitted” `62,476 crore out of the total sale proceeds of `1,25,185 crore, out of India, mainly to China to “avoid paying taxes here.”
“These (associated) companies are found to have transferred huge amounts of funds to Vivo India. Further, out of the total sale proceeds of `1,25,185 crore, Vivo India remitted `62,476 crore, i.e, almost 50 per cent of the turnover out of India, 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 agency said in its statement.
The ED further said, “All due procedures as per law were followed during the said operations at each premise. The employees of Vivo India, including some Chinese Nationals did not cooperate with the search proceedings and had tried to abscond, remove and hide digital devices which were retrieved by the search teams.”
Meanwhile, China expressed hope that India will conduct a fair investigation.