Simultaneous searches were carried out on three companies based in Gurugram, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, respectively, on 8 September leading to the arrest, the ministry said in a statement. The arrested person, the ministry alleged, has emerged as the mastermind of a racket of incorporating large number of shell companies with Chinese links in India and providing dummy directors on their boards.
The arrested person had shown himself to be a resident of Mandi in Himachal Pradesh as per the records filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the ministry said.
Evidence procured during the enquiry by ROC Delhi and the simultaneous search operations clearly points to dummy directors being paid by the Gurugram-based company, which is a subsidiary of Hong Kong based entity, the ministry alleged in its statement.
“Boxes filled with company seals and digital signatures of dummy directors have been recovered from the site. The Indian employees were in touch with the Chinese counterparts through a Chinese instant messaging app," the ministry alleged.
Investigations so far have revealed the possible involvement of these shell companies in serious financial crimes detrimental to the financial security of the country, the ministry alleged.
It said that the ministry of corporate affairs to which the SFIO is attached, had assigned the investigation of the Gurugram-based company and 32 other companies to SFIO on 9 September.
The arrested person was picked up on Saturday and was produced in the Jurisdictional Court and Orders for his transit remand were obtained, the ministry said.
