ED Reportedly Asks Court to Re-Instate Freeze on Xiaomi's Bank Assets Worth $725 Million

A high court in Karnataka had reportedly put that freeze on hold after Xiaomi challenged it.

ED Reportedly Asks Court to Re-Instate Freeze on Xiaomi's Bank Assets Worth $725 Million

Photo Credit: Reuters

The hold decision would continue for now, a judge said

Highlights
  • "Xiaomi is not being allowed to make necessary payments"
  • The judge allowed Xiaomi to use a bank overdraft facility for payments
  • The next hearing is set for May 23
Advertisement

India's financial crime fighting agency asked a court on Thursday to re-instate a freeze on $725 million (roughly Rs. 5,624 crore) in the Indian bank accounts of Xiaomi as it investigates fund transfers by the Chinese smartphone giant.

The enforcement directorate had seized the money saying Xiaomi had illegally transferred funds abroad to three entities, including one in the Xiaomi group, describing them as payments "in the guise of royalty".

But the high court in the southern state of Karnataka put that decision on hold after Xiaomi challenged it, saying all the royalty payments were legitimate.

The hold decision would continue for now, a judge of the same court said on Thursday, adding that the agency would make a formal request later in the day to restore the freeze.

"The matter requires further hearing," added the judge, Siddappa Sunil Dutt Yadav, who set the next hearing for May 23.

A spokesperson for Xiaomi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Xiaomi's lawyers told the court that banks were not allowing the company to make necessary payments, even though the court had allowed it to use funds for purposes other than royalty payments.

On Thursday, the judge allowed Xiaomi to use a bank overdraft facility for such payments.

The agency's move comes after Xiaomi said in a court filing that its top executives faced threats of "physical violence" and coercion during questioning by enforcement officials, contentions that the agency has dismissed as untrue.

© Thomson Reuters 2022


How is Alexa faring in India? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

RuTube Access Reportedly Restored by Russian Cyber Experts After 3-Day Outage
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »