The Enforcement Directorate visited the premises of Paytm in Bengaluru on Wednesday in connection with a money laundering case, which the fintech firm stated was nothing new, and that the agency has sought additional information about certain merchants from various payment providers.
“As we have mentioned before, ED continues to seek information about certain merchants from various payment service providers, we have shared the required information,” said a Paytm spokesperson. He also pointed out that the company has already notified the stock exchanges on September 4 about the ED action.
Paytm had informed the stock exchange that “as a part of ongoing investigations on a specific set of merchants, the ED has sought information regarding such merchants to whom we provide payment processing solutions. It is, hereby, clarified that these merchants are independent entities, and none of them are our group entities. We are, and will, continue to, fully cooperate with the authorities, and all the directive actions are being duly complied with”.
On September 3, sleuths had raided six premises in Bengaluru, including Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Payments and Paytm Payment Services Ltd, to investigate charges that people were taken for a ride after availing loans through apps controlled by Chinese nationals.
The ED had seized ₹17 crore from merchants and bank accounts of entities controlled by Chinese. The Chinese entities had developed lending money mobile apps, and entered into agreements with non-banking financial institutions to offer loans at very high rates, ED sources had stated. They would also charge exorbitant fees for giving loans to gullible persons.