A Delhi court has issued summons to senior executives of smartphone giant Vivo, including Global CEO Shen Wei, CFO Chen Yu Fen, and India CEO Zhiyong Chen, in connection with a ₹20,241 crore money laundering case. The directive follows a supplementary chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), with Additional Sessions Judge Kiran Gupta finding sufficient grounds to proceed with the case. The court has ordered their appearance on May 13, while also summoning the foreign nationals through the Ministry of Home Affairs to appear under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on August 18.
According to the court, the executives played a central role in creating a complex web of shell companies used to improperly route and siphon funds outside India. The case stems from a broader ED investigation into financial crimes, including the ₹20,000 crore Mahadev betting case, which has also drawn links to EaseMyTrip cofounder Nishant Pitti.
The ED began investigating Vivo in 2022 after allegations of financial misconduct by a distributor in Jammu & Kashmir. Subsequent raids across 44 locations revealed that Vivo’s Indian unit had transferred over ₹62,000 crore overseas to evade taxes, and ₹465 crore across 119 bank accounts was frozen.
In October 2023, the ED arrested four individuals linked to the case, including former Lava International MD Hari Om Rai, a Chinese national, chartered accountant Nitin Garg, and Rajan Malik. A December chargesheet claimed Vivo routed nearly ₹1 lakh crore out of India between 2014 and 2021 using shell firms. More arrests followed, including interim India CEO Hong Xuquan (Terry), CFO Harinder Dahiya, and consultant Hemant Munjal.