Chinese smartphone vendor Vivo requested the Indian government to unfreeze its bank accounts to resume operations as raids on the company “jeopardised its very existence”.
The Economic Times reported, Vivo wrote to government agency the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to request its Indian bank accounts be resumed, after it was raided for allegedly violating remittance laws and money laundering.
Vivo said in its letter: “The direction of debit freeze of all the bank accounts of Vivo will lead to a situation of commercial and civil death, and while we are committed to cooperating with the investigation, such an irreversible action, even if temporary, jeopardises the very existence of Vivo.”
“The situation is further aggravated as there are immediate payments to be made towards statutory dues, salaries, rent, monies for daily business operations, including refund of monies to consumers who have cancelled online orders and servicing of finance facilities from various banks.”
Vivo also stated it was not “aware of the allegations” against and highlighted its achievement in creating jobs in India, which was in line with the government’s Make in India manufacturing initiative.
The Chinese brand wrote to the ED stating it has INR2.5 billion (US$31.4m) frozen in its accounts.
The ED revealed in a social media post it had seized INR4.6 billion of assets from 119 bank accounts belonging to Vivo. Assets included 2kg of gold bars and INR730 million in cash.
