ED arrests Delhi man in Chinese app investment fraud case

A Delhi-based man has been arrested in a money laundering case linked to an over Rs 900-crore investment app ''fraud'' which was controlled by some Chinese persons, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Friday.

Rohit Vij was taken into custody on June 30 after searches were carried out against him in the national capital, the agency said in a statement.

The ED case, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from a 2022 FIR registered by the cybercrime station of Hyderabad police. It was alleged in the police complaint that certain Chinese individuals, in association with some Indian persons, ''defrauded'' investors by offering ''unrealistically'' high returns on investments through their fake investment app named 'LOXAM and claiming to be related to a reputed French MNC by the same name.

The probe found that the ''tainted'' money was collected in the bank account of a shell entity named Xindai Technologies Pvt. Ltd., which was formed in the name of an Indian person on the instructions of a Chinese national named Jack.

The Chinese man, according to the ED, took internet banking credentials of the said bank account and routed the funds through 38 mule accounts. The funds were subsequently converted into foreign currencies with the help of Vij and his associates through shell money changer entities like Ranjan Money Corp. Pvt. Ltd. and KDS Forex Pvt. Ltd in Delhi.

The agency alleged that Vij and his associates converted the tainted funds into foreign currencies like USD and dirham, and provided it to the ''Chinese perpetrators'' through ''hawala'' channels.

An amount of Rs 171.47 crore was laundered through Xindai Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and later converted into forex through the money changer companies, the ED alleged.

''However, from the analysis of bank accounts of Ranjan Money Corp. and KDS Forex Pvt. Ltd., it was found that within a period of seven months, these entities, under the control and operation of Rohit Vij, converted Rs 903 crore of tainted money generated by Chinese perpetrators and other accused persons,'' it said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)