NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Chinese smartphone maker Vivo has approached a court in New Delhi seeking to quash an Indian enforcement agency’s decision to freeze its bank accounts, arguing the move was “bad in law” and will harm the company’s business operations, a court filing shows.
The filing, submitted by Vivo India to the Delhi High Court, said the company would not be able to pay statutory dues and salaries due to the account block.
India’s financial crime agency said on Thursday it had blocked 119 bank accounts linked to Vivo’s India business and its associates that were holding 4.65 billion rupees ($58.76 million), as part of a probe into alleged money laundering by the smartphone maker.
Vivo has said that it was cooperating with authorities and was committed to fully complying with Indian laws.
Vivo’s court filing listed 10 of its bank accounts as affected by the decision. The company said it needed to make monthly payments of 28.26 billion rupees.
(Reporting by Suchitra Mohanty and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
