ED conducts searches and seizes Rs 78 crore – The New Indian Express

By Express press service

BENGALURU: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided five premises of online payment gateways in Bangalore regarding alleged irregularities in app-based instant loans allegedly controlled by certain Chinese individuals and entities. During the raids, the ED seized Rs 78 crore from the merchant IDs and bank accounts of these entities under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the agency said. central in an official press release on Friday. “The premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd and the bank’s compliance offices linked to these entities were targeted by the search operation, the ED added.

The 19 October ER searches were based on the 18 FIRs registered by the Cyber ​​Crime Police Station, Bengaluru City, against numerous entities/persons for their alleged involvement in extortion and harassment of people, who had took advantage of small loans through mobile applications managed by the defendant.

“During the investigation, it emerged that these entities are controlled/operated by Chinese nationals. The modus operandi of these entities includes using false documents of certain vulnerable Indians, making them their dummy principals and generating proceeds of crime,” the ED said. “It was found (from the ED) that the said entities were conducting alleged illegal business through various IDs/merchant accounts held with payment gateways/banks. Based on the investigation conducted and information received from the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Bangalore City, the search operations were carried out,” the central agency added. “During the searches, it was noticed that the entities were generating proceeds of crime through various merchant IDs/accounts held with payment gateways/banks and submitted fake addresses in KYC documents,” the ED said.

The agency seized Rs 78 crore from merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese-controlled entities. The total seizure in this case is Rs 95 crore, the agency added.

“Suspicious entities blocked”
RazorPay, in response to the ED’s research, stated that “As part of the ongoing investigation against a few suspicious entities, which conducted illegal activities through multiple payment gateways/banks, we have proactively blocked all these suspicious entities and the funds associated with them approximately one-and-a-half years ago, and we have shared their contact details with ED on several occasions.”

The RazorPay spokesperson added that “being a regulated financial institution, we regularly cooperate with law enforcement and provide necessary information to merchants to aid in the investigation process. No Razorpay funds were frozen in connection with these visits. We would like to reiterate that all of our operations and integration processes adhere to the highest standards of governance and regulatory guidelines. »

BENGALURU: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided five premises of online payment gateways in Bangalore regarding alleged irregularities in app-based instant loans allegedly controlled by certain Chinese individuals and entities. During the raids, the ED seized Rs 78 crore from the merchant IDs and bank accounts of these entities under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the agency said. central in an official press release on Friday. “The premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd and the bank’s compliance offices linked to these entities were targeted by the search operation, the ED added. The 19 October ER searches were based on the 18 FIR registered by the Cyber ​​Crime Police Station, Bengaluru City, against numerous entities/persons for their alleged involvement in extortion and harassment of people, who had availed small loans through mobile applications operated by the accused. During the investigation, it emerged that these entities are controlled/operated by Chinese nationals.The modus operandi of these entities includes the use of false documents of certain vulnerable Indians, making them their dummy directors and generating proceeds of the crime,” said ED. “It was found (from ED) that said entities were conducting alleged illegal business through various merchant IDs/accounts held with passerell es of payment/banks. Based on the investigation conducted and information received from the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Bangalore City, the search operations were carried out,” the central agency added. “During investigation, entities were observed to generate proceeds of crime through various merchant IDs/accounts held with payment gateways/banks and submitted fake addresses in KYC documents,” the ED said. . The agency seized Rs 78 crore from merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese-controlled entities. The total seizure in this case is Rs 95 crore, the agency added. “Suspicious Entities Blocked”, RazorPay, in response to ED research, stated that “As part of the ongoing investigation against a few suspicious entities, which conducted illegal activities through multiple payment gateways/banks, we proactively blocked all such suspicious entities and funds. associated with them about a year and a half ago, and we have shared their contact details with ED on several occasions.” The RazorPay spokesperson added that “being a regulated financial institution, we regularly cooperate with law enforcement and provide necessary information to merchants to aid in the investigation process. No Razorpay funds were frozen in connection with these visits. We would like to reiterate that all of our operations and integration processes adhere to the highest standards of governance and regulatory guidelines. »