ED attaches multi-crore assets in money-laundering case against 'illegally staying' Chinese national

New Delhi: The ED on Thursday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 13 crore as part of its investigations in a money-laundering case against a Chinese national "staying illegally" in the country.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) case stems from an FIR and charge sheets filed against Xue Fei, his Indian accomplice Ravi Natvarlal Thakkar and some others by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police.

"Xue Fei was staying in India illegally and he, along with Ravi Natvarlal Thakkar and others, were controlling and running suspicious hotels and clubs in NCR (National Capital Region) for Chinese nationals, especially those who entered and stayed in India illegally," the federal agency said in a statement.

The accused, in connivance with each other, launched multiple paper companies having puppet/dummy directors and were operating various instant loan apps such as Rupee Plus, Lucky Wallet, Flash Paisa, Paisa Karo, Hi Paisa and Radha Money under the umbrella of such companies, it said.

"They used to get access to the personal data of borrowers and used to blackmail and threaten them in the guise of loan recovery. In this way, they cheated the people on a pan-India basis and collected huge amounts, running in crores of rupees," the ED said.

This money was infused into a web of companies through circular transactions by using bogus, paper and shell companies controlled by the "Chinese cartel", it said.

The ED said a provisional attachment order was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to attach bank and fixed deposits, immovable properties and insurance policies worth Rs 13.58 crore "beneficially owned" by Thakkar and others.