India Arrests Chinese Employee Of Smartphone Maker Vivo
India's Financial Crimes Enforcement Agency has arrested a Chinese employee of Vivo smartphone maker, the agency reported.
Officials in India have yet to comment, but Vivo said it was pursuing all legal options on behalf of employee Andrew Kwang.
The authorities accused them of illegally transporting Vivo's offices from India to China.
According to industry data, it is the second largest smartphone brand in India after Samsung.
She said that Vivo is against any wrongdoing and will abide by Indian laws.
The arrest comes amid rising tensions between India and China.
Reuters reported last week that Indian police have publicly accused Vivo of helping fund the news portal Newsclick, which is under investigation for spreading Chinese propaganda.
The arrest was made on Tuesday under the Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Atul Pandey, senior partner at law firm Khaitan, said: "It's a very strict law to prosecute routine foreign exchange violations that are generally treated as civil offences".
The tax authorities accused Vivo of tax evasion. The company is China's BBK Electronics, which operates brands like Oppo and Realme in India.
In the past 18 months, Indian authorities have also targeted other Chinese mobile companies such as Xiaomi, seizing US$670 million worth of assets.
At the beginning of this year, India's Minister of State for Electronics, Rajiv Chandrasekhar, told Parliament that Chinese companies had declared 1.1 billion dollars in tax evasion. According to him, the government was able to return only 18 percent of this money.
In an interview with the BBC, senior legal counsel representing several Chinese companies in India said the strike was intended to put pressure on the Chinese government following a deadly border clash in 2020 that killed 24 soldiers. India responded by banning hundreds of Chinese apps, including TikTok.
But subsequent investigations have led to accusations of financial crimes against major Chinese companies such as Xiaomi and Oppo India. Both companies have denied the allegations.
Relations between the neighbors have been strained, with India recently registering "strong protests" against China's new map, which it claims is its territory.
