Chinese Owners Of Oppo Accused Of Financial Crimes
BBK Electronics, the Chinese company that owns the Oppo, Realme and Vivo brands, has faced a new wave of trouble after the Indian government accused its Vivo operation of financial crimes related to money transfers for tax evasion.
It's a company whose products were rejected by European retailers after Nokia took them to court and won a patent battle against a Chinese company accused of patent theft.
India's financial crime agency yesterday arrested a Chinese company employee accused of helping Vivo executives channel illicit money to NewsClick, a news portal under investigation for spreading Chinese propaganda in India. The portal also works in Australia. 
Vivo said it was "pursuing all available legal options" on behalf of its employee, Andrew Kuang.
This latest development is part of an ongoing development after authorities raided Vivo's offices last year, accusing the company of illegally moving money from India to China.
Yesterday's arrest complements other investigations, in which entrepreneurs were already accused of evading customs payments for goods.
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which Indian authorities have used in recent investigations, has been used repeatedly to stop money laundering.
Atul Pandey, senior partner at law firm Khaitan, told the BBC it was “a very strict law that allows for criminal prosecutions, unlike ordinary financial crimes, which are often treated as civil offences.
Tax officials also accused Vivo of tax evasion. 
In the past 18 months, Indian authorities have also targeted other Chinese mobile companies such as Xiaomi, freezing assets worth $670 million.
Earlier this year, India's Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajiv Chandrashekhar told parliament that Chinese companies had evaded $1.1 billion in taxes. According to him, the government was able to return only about 18% of this amount.
Speaking to the BBC on condition of anonymity, a senior legal adviser representing several Chinese companies in India said the crackdown was initially aimed at putting pressure on the Chinese government after a deadly border clash in 2020 that killed 24 people. India then responded by banning hundreds of Chinese apps, including TikTok.
"Alex" Chao Duan, director of Oppo's electronics distributor OMC in Australia, son of Duan Yongpko, founder of BBK Electronics, owner of troubled brands Oppo, Realme, Vivo and One Plus, recently paid 20.5 million. dollars. For a house in Sydney.
About the author of the message.
