9 Chinese nationals among 15 foreigners booked by EOW

On the basis of complaints lodged by the Registrar of Companies (ROC), Mumbai, EOW has also booked nearly 50 people other than the nine Chinese nationals and six other foreigners

Mumbai The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has registered 13 FIRs against 15 foreigners, including nine Chinese nationals, for allegedly violating laws of registration of new companies and for fraudulently becoming directors of Indian companies.

Police sources said the EOW has received as many as 40 such complaints from ROC, Mumbai and FIRs are being registered in all the cases - as instructed by commissioner of police, Sanjay Pandey (HT File photo)

On the basis of complaints lodged by the Registrar of Companies (ROC), Mumbai, EOW has also booked nearly 50 other people including 10 chartered accountants (CAs) and company secretaries (CSs), for registering the companies under the name of Indian citizens and later transferring the ownership to the foreigners. The foreigners also include UAE and United States of America nationals.

Police sources said the EOW has received as many as 40 such complaints from ROC, Mumbai and FIRs are being registered in all the cases - as instructed by commissioner of police, Sanjay Pandey.

The exercise is seen as part of a nationwide crackdown on shell companies with dummy Indian directors and Chinese connections. Central agencies are also monitoring the progress of the EOW investigation, sources said.

“Most of the 13 companies booked so far are owned by foreigners and most of the accused CAs and CSs are from Delhi,” an EOW official said.

He added, “The Chinese nationals had come to India on B-1 visa. 12 FIRs were registered in April, while the first was lodged in February.”

Niket Kaushik, joint commissioner of police (EOW), confirmed the development and said that no arrest has been made so far.

As per the existing norms, every new company is first registered with the ROC. After that, as per the provisions laid down under Companies Act 2013, further registration and other lawful compliances of the company are looked after by the regional Company Registrar offices. In Maharashtra, Company Registrar offices are located in Mumbai and Pune.

According to ROC, Mumbai, a few groups of people including CAs are running a full-fledged racket. The accused CAs used their friends and relatives’ names as the first directors in the companies by submitting false information and fabricated documents. Later, they transferred the companies to the foreigners for a hefty charge.

When the Registrar Office did physical verification of some of the submitted addresses, they discovered them to be fake. Some dummy directors of the companies were found to be related to the CAs.

All accused have been booked under relevant sections of criminal breach of trust, cheating, falsification of accounts, criminal conspiracy and under relevant sections of Company Act.