ED freezes Rs 46 cr kept in payment gateway accounts

New Delhi, September 16

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen Rs 46.67 crore funds of merchant entities kept in online payment gateway accounts of Easebuzz, Razorpay, Cashfree and Paytm following raids earlier this week against a “Chinese-controlled” investment token app.

The funds have been frozen under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED, in a statement, said the latest action had been taken after it raided the Bengaluru premises of Razorpay, Paytm and Cashfree over alleged irregularities in the operations of instant app-based loan- companies “controlled” by Chinese nationals. Later, a seizure order under the PMLA for Rs 17 crore kept in their accounts was issued.

The latest searches were launched on September 14 at multiple premises of the accused in Delhi, Mumbai, Ghaziabad, Lucknow and Gaya in a money laundering case being probed against an app-based token called HPZ and related entities, the ED said.