NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s federal monetary crime-fighting company stated on Saturday it was looking out the premises of on-line fee corporations as a part of an investigation of Chinese language-controlled companies and people suspected of illicit lending practices.
The fee corporations included Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Funds and Paytm Fee Providers Ltd, the Enforcement Directorate stated in an announcement.
“The premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Funds, Paytm Fee Providers Ltd and entities managed or operated by Chinese language individuals are lined within the search operation,” it stated.
The searches are a part of a probe involving a Chinese language mortgage app the place there have been allegations of extortion and harassment of shoppers who had taken out small loans, it added.
Chinese language managed entities are suspected of involvement in crime and the individuals are accused of forging paperwork of Indian residents to make them administrators of corporations producing prison proceeds, the Directorate stated.
The company seized 170 million Indian rupees ($2.13 million)in service provider IDs and financial institution accounts of entities managed by Chinese language individuals.
The Directorate didn’t title the businesses or people that it seized the funds from.
The transactions have been carried out through varied service provider accounts held with fee gateways and banks, it added.
Paytm’s guardian is One 97 Communications Ltd.
The searches have been being carried out in India’s tech metropolis Bengaluru.
“A few of our retailers have been being investigated by legislation enforcement a couple of 12 months and a half again. As a part of the continuing investigation, the authorities requested further data to assist with the investigation,” a Razorpay spokesperson stated in an announcement to Reuters.
Razorpay stated it has shared different particulars with the authorities.
Paytm and Cashfree didn’t instantly reply to Reuters requests for feedback.
($1 = 79.7170 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Munsif Vengattil; enhancing by William Mallard and Jason Neely)
