One 97 Communication, the parent company of Paytm, denied having any connections to the companies the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is now looking into in relation to a Chinese loan app on Sunday.
In a statement, the fintech company claimed that none of the funds that the government agency had frozen belonged to it or any of the companies in its group. The offices of the online payment providers Paytm, Razorpay, and Cashfree were searched by the ED late last week.
“The ED has requested information about certain merchants from us about payment processing as part of ongoing investigations on a specific group of merchants,” reads a request for information from the ED. Paytm stated in a regulatory filing on Sunday that it wanted to be crystal clear that these merchants are independent legal entities and are not a part of its business.
According to the digital payments business, none of the merchant IDs that the ED asked to be frozen belonged to Paytm or any of its group companies.
We have a good working relationship with the authorities and will continue to do so. It went on to say that all of the prescribed actions were being properly completed.
The ED announced on Saturday that it had conducted raids at six locations of online payment gateways in Bengaluru, including Paytm, Razorpay, and Cashfree. This was in connection with an investigation into Chinese-controlled businesses and individuals who are alleged to have engaged in illegal lending activities.
The ED reportedly seized money worth Rs. 17 crores that had been kept in a few bank accounts and merchant IDs that belonged to Chinese citizens, according to a report by PTI. When conducting the raids, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and 2002’s regulations were observed.
