India vs China: Delhi arrests Chinese manager on charges of illegal export of capital
India's financial crimes agency has arrested a Chinese executive of smartphone maker Vivo, the company said.
Indian officials have not yet commented, but Vivo said it will “exercise all available legal options” on behalf of its employee, Andrew Kuang.
Last year authorities raided the office of the Vivo company, accusing it of illegal remittances from India to China.
According to industry data, this is the second largest smartphone brand in India, after Samsung. Vivo has denied any wrongdoing and said it complies with Indian law.
The arrest comes in the wake of a widening rift between India and China which is shifting from the political side to the economic one.
Last week, we reported that Indian police had formally charged Vivo with helping to illegally transfer funds to NewsClick , a news portal that is under investigation for allegedly spreading Chinese propaganda.
Tuesday's arrest came under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It is “a very strict law and allows criminal proceedings to be initiated, unlike normal foreign exchange violations which are mostly considered civil crimes,” according to Atul Pandey, Senior Partner at law firm Khaitan.
Vivo was also accused of customs evasion by law enforcement. The company is owned by China's BBK Electronics, which also operates brands such as Oppo and Realme in India.
Over the past 18 months, Indian authorities have also targeted other Chinese mobile companies such as Xiaomi, freezing $670 million in assets.
Earlier this year, Indian Electronics and IT Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar told parliament that Chinese companies had evaded taxes to the tune of $1.1 billion. He said the government had only managed to recover about 18% of that amount.
Speaking to the BBC on condition of anonymity, a senior legal counsel representing several Chinese companies in India said the crackdown was initially aimed at putting pressure on the Chinese government in the aftermath of a deadly border clash in 2020 that killed 24 soldiers. India had then responded by banning hundreds of Chinese apps, including TikTok.
But subsequent investigations have led to major Chinese companies such as Xaomi and Oppo India being accused of financial crimes. Both companies have denied the allegations.
The issue is therefore growing and making the relations between the two Asian superpowers even more bitter, as they are becoming increasingly opposed, influencing the global balance of power with their weight.
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The article India vs China: Delhi arrests Chinese manager on charges of illegal export of capital comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/india-vs-cina-delhi-arresta-manager-cinese-con-laccusa-di-esportazione-illegale-di-capitali/ on Thu, 12 Oct 2023 06:00:10 +0000.