Delhi HC permits Vivo to access accounts blocked by ED in money laundering probe

Vivo is permitted to manage its bank accounts as long as a balance of Rs 250 crore is preserved there at all times.

The Delhi High Court has permitted Vivo India, Chinese smartphone manufacturer, to continue using its bank accounts which had been frozen by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as a part of a money-laundering investigation. Additionally, Vivo India was ordered by the Delhi HC to provide a bank guarantee of Rs 950 crore.

The matter will now be taken up by the court for further hearing on July 28. The court provided ED one week's time to submit its response to the petition.

According to the HC, Vivo is permitted to manage its bank accounts as long as a balance of Rs 250 crore is preserved there at all times.

This follows Delhi High court's instruction to the ED last week, wherein the HC suggested the ED to take into account unfreezing some of Vivo's frozen bank accounts in order to let the company pay for its liabilities.

The federal investigation agency alleged that Vivo avoided paying taxes in India by sending nearly Rs 62,476 crore of its total revenue to China between 2017 to 2021. The ED stated that this represented over half the company's total revenue of Rs 1.25 trillion.

In the course of its money laundering investigation into Vivo and its affiliated companies, the investigating agency conducted many nationwide raids on July 5 and froze many of its suspected bank accounts.