Xiaomi India's woes seem far from over as the Enforcement Directorate has locked horns with the Chinese smartphone maker and rejected their allegations of intimidation as “untrue and baseless”. The ED has been relying on evidence recorded and corroborated over the last one month, which includes statements of its former managing director and chief financial officer. According to the agency, the duo had not filed any complaint them at any point of time during while giving their statements.
The ED recorded statements of Xiaomi India's former managing director Manu Kumar Jain and current chief financial officer Sameer B.S. Rao at least four times between April 13 and April 26 under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. Statements of Jain were recorded on April 13, 14, 21 and 26 while statements of Rao were recorded on March 25 and April 4, 14, 19, 21, 22 and 26. The last statement of the officials of the company was recorded on April 26 and the seizure order was passed on April 29, said the agency in a statement.
According to ED officials, the statements corroborate with the written replies submitted to ED and the materials on record which paved way for the seizure order.
''The allegations that the statement of the officials of Xiaomi India was taken under coercion by ED are untrue and baseless. The officials of the Xiaomi India deposed their statements before ED under FEMA voluntarily in the most conducive environment on various occasions,'' said the agency.
The ED said that it is a professional investigating agency with strong work ethics and there was no coercion or threat to the officers of the Chinese company at any point of time.
According to reports, the company has claimed no wrongdoing and alleged that Jain and Rao were on certain occasions threatened. On May 7, the High Court of Karnataka had stayed the April 29 order of the ED by which Rs 5,551.27 crore of the Indian subsidiary of the Chinese company was seized under the stringent FEMA. The agency had claimed that the amount was part of royalties remitted to companies outside India.
