SINGAPORE: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), an agency under India’s Ministry of Finance, said on Feb 28 that it had frozen millions of dollars belonging to shell entities in Singapore after an investigation revealed a complex web of money laundering operations carried out via shell companies and fake invoices.
The money had been deposited in the accounts of NIUM Indian Pvt Ltd, based in Mumbai. Indian authorities conducted a money laundering investigation that was said to involve illegal online loans, gambling, betting apps controlled by “Chinese entities” and mule accounts in Kerala.
The companies in India were said to have paid the shell companies in Singapore through funds obtained through the unlawful means listed above, The Economic Times reported on Feb 29.
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ED said that its probe “revealed that proceeds of crime generated from the apps are aggregated and laundered through mule accounts opened in various banks in Kerala state using payment aggregators.”
Various companies in Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai were used for channelling funds through NIUM India, a subsidiary of Nium Singapore, an international foreign exchange settlement platform.
The funds were moved to prevent detection from authorities.
On Feb 23 and 23, raids were conducted in 10 areas in Mumbai, Chennai and Kochi, which gave rise to the discovery of a number of mule accounts in Kerala which were said to have been used to collect the proceeds from the legal activities.
During the raids, numerous digital devices, incriminating documents, multiple bank accounts used for laundering, and the details of various movable and immovable assets of the accused person and entities were seized by the ED.
Investigations were carried out after complaints involving exploitation and cheating through online platforms were filed with the Kerala Police and Haryana Police.
“The funds collected, layered through multiple shell companies in Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, and were finally being remitted outside India through various channels such as Crypto Currency, against fake imports of software from Singapore and Forex currency purchases,” said ED in its statement.
A spokesman for NIUM Singapore was quoted in The Straits Times as saying that the company is fully cooperating with ED and clarified that the investigation is not connected to its Singapore entity.
Instead, it looks “into certain transactions facilitated through (the Indian subsidiary) by alleged bad actors in India.”
“While this investigation is ongoing, we continue to fulfil all of our contractual and regulatory obligations in India and in all other countries we operate,” the company’s spokesperson added. /TISG
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