Delhi HC dismisses habeas corpus petitions of Lava MD, Chinese national and others in Vivo money laundering probe

New Delhi [India], December 20 : The Delhi High Court has dismissed three habeas corpus petitions moved by Lava International's Managing Director, Hariom Rai, Chinese National Guangwen Kyang, alias Andrew Kuang and Nitin Garg. The individuals are accused in a money laundering probe against the Chinese phone maker Vivo.
The bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Shalinder Kaur has passed the order in the matter and said the trial court Judge has rightly issued production warrants against the petitioners on December 7, 2023, for production of the petitioners and the petitioners remain in the lawful custody of Additional Sessions Judge.
Pranay Rai, son of Hariom Rai, stated through a plea that the detenu was not produced before the court concerned on December 7, 2023, either by way of video conferencing or otherwise.
Consequently, the detenu has been retained in the custody of the respondent since December 7, 2023, without any sanction of law or order passed by the Court concerned.
Further, the detenu has been in continuous custody for more than 15 days since the last order remanding him to judicial custody on November 23, 2023. Article 22(2) of the Constitution of India mandates that no person can be detailed in custody without following due process of law.
Advocate Nitesh Rana, who appeared for Hariom Rai, submitted that, as per law, this Court must issue this writ to safeguard the freedom of the detenu against illegal detention. The writ of habeas corpus has been described as a writ of right that ought to be granted ex debitio justitiae.
Similarly, Guangwen Kyang, alias Andrew Kuang, a Chinese national, stated that no accused can be kept in detention as an under-trial prisoner without a valid remand order passed by the court with competent jurisdiction.
Recently, the Enforcement Directorate filed its main prosecution complaint (charge sheet) in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case related to the Chinese mobile company Vivo in the Patiala House Court of Delhi.
The chargesheet has been filed against Chinese national Guangwen Kuang, Andrew, Lava International's MD Hariom Rai Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik under the different sections of the Money Laundering Act. All the accused are presently in judicial custody in the matter.
According to the sources, ED has also named Vivo Company as an accused in the matter of allegedly cheating the Government of India. It also stated that the company has set up an intricate network in India.
According to the ED, certain Chinese shareholders of Grand Prospect International Communication Private Ltd incorporated the company based on forged identification documents and falsified addresses.
During the inquiry, certain fraudulent activities were found by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The said company was not reported as a subsidiary of Vivo in the official records, whereas the said company publicly projects itself to be a subsidiary of Vivo, said ED.
ED further alleged that director and shareholder Zhang Jie used a false driving licence to apply for a Director Identification Number (DIN) for giving his Shillong address and also used his fake driving licence to open the bank account. With the allegations of cheating, an FIR in Police Station Kalkaji, South East Delhi, was registered under Section 417/120B/420 IPC and another FIR was also registered under Section 417/420/468/471/120B IPC by the Economic Offence Wing, Delhi Police, based on the complaint filed by Manjit Singh, the then Deputy Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, NCT of Delhi.
ED further alleged that soon after the incorporation of M/s Vivo, India, 19 more companies, including M/s GPICPL, were incorporated across India, completely controlled by Chinese nationals. The accused, Bin Luo, was the founder and first director of Vivo India, GPICPL and all other 18 entities at the time of their incorporation and the accused, Nitin Garg, had assisted in the incorporation of most of the companies of Vivo Group.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, raids were conducted on the premises of the accused on October 9th and cash amounting to more than Rs 10 lakh was seized. Meanwhile, four accused were arrested in the raids, have been identified as Guangwen Kyang, aka Andrew Kuang, the Chinese national; Hari Om Rai, the MD of Lava International Rajan Malik, and Nitin Garg, a Chartered Accountant.
The probe revealed that the PMLA investigation by ED was initiated by registering a money laundering case on February 3, 2022.