New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today said that it has fined merchant entities Rs. Funds of Rs 46.67 crore deposited in four online payment gateway accounts ezbuzz, reservepay, cashfree and paytm have been suspended. The move follows raids this week on a Chinese-controlled investment token app.
- These funds were placed in the accounts of Reservepay, Cashfree, Paytm etc
- Payment companies say we have nothing to do with this money
The funds have been frozen under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. The latest move comes after the agency earlier this month raided the Bengaluru premises of ReservePay, Paytm and CashFree, app-based instant loan companies controlled by Chinese individuals, over alleged irregularities in their operations and later freezing their accounts. Rs. 17 crores were issued for confiscation of funds.
The current raids were carried out on September 14 at multiple premises of the accused in Delhi, Mumbai, Ghaziabad, Lucknow and Gaya in connection with money laundering investigation against the app-based token known as HPZ. As part of this operation, raids were also conducted in cities like Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Jodhpur etc. Which is Rs. 46.67 crore has been frozen and kept in various bank accounts and virtual accounts, the ED said. These companies used to collect money from users through UPI and payment gateways in the name of investment, some amount was returned to investors and some was embezzled. About this action, the spokesperson of Cashfree said that the company is cooperating with the ED in the investigation while Paytm said that we have nothing to do with this money and it belongs to a different independent company.