The government said several employees of Vivo and its Indian affiliates hid their employment when applying for visas, among other allegations.
Visa case
At least 30 Chinese individuals entered India on business visas and worked as Vivo employees.
“Many employees of Vivo group companies worked in India without appropriate visas,” the agency said.
It said they “have concealed information regarding their employer in their visa applications and cheated the Indian embassy or missions in China”.
Visiting sensitive areas
They also broke rules by visiting the “sensitive” Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir, the financial crime agency has said.
India bars foreigners from entering or staying in the areas of Ladakh and parts of Jammu and Kashmir it has designated as “protected”, unless they have a permit from the authorities.
“Various Chinese nationals have been traveling across India, including sensitive places of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, in gross violation of Indian visa conditions,” it said, speaking publicly for the first time regarding the case.
Sino-India tensions
The court statement comes in the midst of a tense situation with China over business activities after India tightened restrictions on incoming investment.
It also banned hundreds of Chinese apps following border clashes in 2020 that killed 20 Indian and four Chinese troops.
Vivo exec arrest
The accusations follow the arrest of a Vivo executive, Guangwen Kuang earlier this week.
The arrest revolves around a money laundering investigation launched in 2022 into India’s second biggest smartphone brand.
Illegal siphoning of money
Last year, the agency raided 48 sites linked to Vivo and its associates during the probe, accusing the company of illegally siphoning money to China to evade Indian taxes through companies it indirectly controls.
It said $12.87 billion was remitted outside India by Vivo to some trading companies controlled by its Chinese parent.
The agency called this a “masking layer” intended to evade the government’s eye.
Remittances to China
“While no profits were shown from 2014-15 to 2019-20 in the statutory filings and no income taxes were paid … huge sums were siphoned off out of India,” the Enforcement Directorate added.
Last July it estimated $7.5 billion had been remitted mainly to China.
Vivo repeated the statement from earlier this week that said the executive’s arrest “deeply concerns us”, while adding that it remained “dedicated to legal compliance”.
