Same Xiaomi allowed to donate ₹10 crore: Mahua Moitra after ED seizure

Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra on Saturday raised questions over the government accepting donations from Xiaomi, the same company whose deposits were seized by the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday on charges of violating the foreign exchange law. Broaching the issue which had been raised by the Congress in 2020 during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mahua Moitra tweeted questions like these were stonewalled in Parliament. “ED seizes ₹5,500 crore assets from Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi over Forex law violations. Same Xiaomi allowed to donate ₹10cr to opaque PM CARES fund,” the Trinamool leader said.

The Enforcement Directorate said ₹5,551.27 crore lying in the bank accounts of the company has been seized by the agency under relevant sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act after a probe was launched by the agency against the company in connection with alleged “illegal remittances” sent abroad by the Chinese firm in February.

Xiaomi India is a trader and distributor of mobile phones in India under the brand name MI. The company started its operations in India in 2014 and began remitting the money from 2015.

Earlier this month, the ED had interrogated the global vice president of the group, Manu Kumar Jain

“The company has remitted foreign currency equivalent to ₹5,551.27 crore to three foreign-based entities which include one Xiaomi group entity, in the guise of royalty,” the ED said adding that such huge amounts in the name of royalties were remitted on the instructions of their Chinese “parent group” entities. Two other US-based groups also received the money but the ED probe found out that the ultimate beneficiary was the Xiaomi group entities.

“Under the cover of various unrelated documentary facade created amongst the group entities, the company remitted this amount in guise of royalty abroad which constitute violation of section 4 of the FEMA,” the agency said.

The Congress had earlier questioned why PM Modi’s Covid fund was accepting donations from Chinese companies like Huawei, TikTok, Xiaomi and Oppo.