ED dismisses Xiaomi’s allegation of coercion, parts firm’s ‘baseless’ claims

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday rejected Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited’s allegations claiming that statements of its officials were taken under coercion. The ED claimed that the allegations made by the Chinese mobile manufacturing company were “baseless”. This comes days after the ED on April 30 seized Rs 5,551.27 crore of the Chinese tech giant after being found unlawfully lying in the bank accounts.

The ED took to its Twitter handle to rubbish the allegation made by Xiaomi India over the statements of its officials. “ED denies allegations made by Xiaomi India that statements of its officials were taken under coercion as untrue and baseless,” the ED wrote on Twitter. Earlier on Saturday, the ED also shared a statement stressing that it issued no ‘threat to the officers of the company at any point of time’.

ED denies allegations made by Xiaomi India that statements of its officials were taken under coercion as untrue and baseless.

— ED (@dir_ed) May 9, 2022

The ED, in its statement, stressed that it is ‘a professional agency with strong work ethics, and there was no coercion or threat to the officers of the company at any point of time’. “Statement of allegations made by the officials of Xiaomi India was taken under coercion by ED is untrue and baseless… officials of Xiaomi India filed their statements before ED under FEMA voluntarily in the most conducive environment on various occasions,” the agency was quoted as saying by PTI.

The ED also claimed that the statements were recorded on the basis of documents and information provided by the company during the investigation. Xiaomi India has been under investigation since February.

ED sixteen Rs 5551.27 cr from Xiaomi

The Enforcement Directorate on April 30 seized Rs 5551.27 crore from the Chinese tech giant Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited. Top sources had informed that the seizure of the capital was made after being found unlawfully lying in the bank accounts. While the seizure is under FEMA and in connection with the illegal outward remittances made by the company, the economic intelligence agency has initiated an investigation in connection with illegal remittances in the month of February.

Notably, Xiaomi India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a China-based Xiaomi group. Shortly after ED’s action, Xiaomi reached out to Republic Media Network and issued a statement. “As a brand committed to India, all our operations are firmly compliant with local laws and regulations. We have studied the order from government authorities carefully. We believe our royalty payments and statements to the bank are all legit and truthful,” the company had said.

Image: SHUTTERSTOCK/PTI

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