In a major step taken towards Chinese mobile companies, the Income Tax department has initiated searches or raids on the offices of Oppo, Xiaomi and OnePlus across over 20 locations in different cities.
The development came after the IT department received intelligence input on concealed income and tax evasion by these Chinese mobile phone companies.
Raids on Xiaomi, One Plus & Oppo Offices
According to sources cited by CNBC TV-18, searches are being carried out based on intelligence input on concealed income and tax evasion. In some cases, residential premises of senior executives are also being searched.
Digital data on concealed income has been seized for further investigations.
These searches are being conducted over 24 locations across Delhi, NCR, Karnataka, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Indore and Hyderabad in the Oppo, One Plus and Xiaomi offices.
The search, according to some, began on Dec 21 at several premises of Oppo.
“Indian CEO’s are also being questioned by the tax officials and these search operations are still underway,” added sources.
Some fintech companies are also being searched in this raid. Sources reveal that substantial amounts of digital data evidence that points at tax evasion has been found and seized.
Oppo responded, “As an invested partner in India, we highly respect and abide by the law of the land. We will continue to fully cooperate with authorities concerned as per procedure.”
Xiaomi responded, “As a responsible company, we give paramount importance to ensuring that we are compliant with all Indian laws. As an invested partner in India, we are fully cooperating with authorities to ensure they have all the required information.”
Chinese Telco ZTE Raid in August
The search conducted of the three famous Chinese mobile phone companies Oppo, Xiaomi and One Plus comes after the Chinese government-controlled telecom vendor ZTE was searched in August 2021.
The raid was conducted at 5 locations of the telecom provider, including their corporate office, the residence of the foreign director, the residence of the company secretary, the account person and the cash handler of the company, states an NDTV report.
The complete investigation revealed that the losses are being booked by the company through bogus expenses in respect of services provided by it.
A few such recipients have been identified against whom substantial expenses have been booked over the years. These entities were found to be non-existent at their addresses, adds the report.
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