The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has filed a chargesheet against a total of seven entities and five firms involved in the Chinese loan app case before the Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Bengaluru.
The court has taken cognizance of the complaint, the ED said. According to the investigating agency, the accused entities include three fintech companies — Mad Elephant Network Technology Private Limited, Baryonyx Technology Private Limited and Cloud Atlas Future Technology Private Limited — which are controlled by the Chinese nationals, three NBFCs registered with RBI — X10 Financial Services Private Limited, Track Fin-ed Private Limited and Jamnadas Morarjee Finance Private Limited — and one Payment gateway Razorpay Software Private Limited.
“Earlier, the ED had issued two provisional attachment orders and attached Rs.77.25 crore in this case lying in the bank accounts and payment gateways and the same has been confirmed. Investigation conducted by ED revealed that the fintech companies have an agreement with the respective NBFCs for disbursement of loans via digital lending apps," the agency said in a statement.
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The statement added that during the probe, it was revealed that the money lending business is being illegally run by these fintech companies and these NBFCs knowingly let the fintech companies use their names for the sake of getting commission without being careful of the conduct of these fintech companies. "The same is also violation of the Fair Practices Code of RBI,” the statement added.
The ED had initiated investigation based on various FIRs registered by CID, Bengaluru based on the complaints received from numerous customers who had availed loans and faced harassment from the recovery agents of these money-lending companies.
ED started to trace the new modus of the crime in September last year, after it searched the Bengaluru-located premises of payment gateways such as Paytm, Razorpay and Cashfree as part of this investigation. The agency also searched 16 other premises of banks and payment gateway branches and offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bengaluru in respect to the case.
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