ED Seizes Rs 78 Crore After Razorpay Searches; Total Seizure At Rs 95 Crore Last Month: Chinese Loan Enforcement Case
October 22, 2022: The Enforcement Directorate conducted search operations under the PMLA, 2002 at 6 commercial/residential premises of Banks/Payment Gateways offices in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gaya and 16 other premises.
The investigative agency had carried out search operations in connection with its investigation into the Chinese loan application fraud case.
Razorpay Pvt Ltd facilities and bank compliance offices related to such entities were covered in the search operation. After the core seizure of Rs 78, the total seizure, in this case, now stands at Rs 95 crore, ED said.
The Enforcement Directorate, in a statement on Friday, added that during the investigation by the PMLA, it emerged that certain entities, which are operated by Chinese nationals, use forged documents of Indians and make these Indians fictitious directors of those entities and generate proceeds of crime.
“It has been realized that said entities were doing suspicious/illegal business through various merchant IDs/payment gateway accounts/banks,” the agency added.
Chinese loan application case
The Chinese loan application case is based on 18 FIRs registered by the Cyber Crimes Police Station, Bengaluru City against various entities/persons.
They are being investigated for their involvement in extortion and harassment of the public who had obtained small amounts of loans through the mobile applications they manage.
Last month, the ED conducted search operations under the PMLA, 2002 at 6 commercial/residential premises of Banks/Payment Gateways offices in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gaya and 16 other locations.
The ED had conducted search operations in connection with its investigation into the Chinese loan application fraud case.
The probe is related to the app-based token called HPZ and related entities. The financial investigation agency raided facilities associated with Paytm, Razorpay and Cashfree, all payment gateways allegedly facilitating transactions on loan apps run without authorization by Chinese-owned companies.
During the search, the ED found incriminating documents and found huge balances held in the virtual accounts of entities involved with payment aggregators.
The agency found an amount of around Rs 46.67 crore and froze it in various bank accounts and virtual accounts.
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