DOES VIVO HAVE A FUTURE IN INDIA?

The smartphone maker is battling charges of money laundering. This has implications for its business partners and employees

- Gulveen Aulakh & Devina Sengupta

In December 2014, a company called Grand Prospect International Communication Pvt. Ltd, Himachal Pradesh, was incorporated by three foreign nationals— Zhengshen Ou, Bin Lou and Zhang Jie. They were assisted by an Indian chartered accountant, Nitin Garg.

The company was in the business of trading mobile phones. The entity procured phones and accessories from Vivo Mobile India Pvt. Ltd and sold them to distributors in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Kashmir, Leh and Ladakh.

Zhengshen Ou and Zhang Jie opened bank accounts with HDFC Bank. And the plot thickened from here on.

According to a chargesheet from India's Directorate of Enforcement (ED), the body responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime, the duo used forged identification documents and falsified addresses. One of the addresses mentioned was a government building and the house of a senior bureaucrat. They used false driving licences to apply for director identification number and open the bank accounts, the ED alleged. In fact, four foreign nationals from the company had forged driving licences.

Why did they forge the identification documents?

The plot further thickened. From the ED charge sheet, we learn that the link between Grand Prospect International Communication and Vivo Mobile India wasn't that of simple trading.