Luo Sang, who operated under the fake name Charlie Peng, was held in a raid in Delhi by Income Tax Department on Tuesday.
The income tax department has found out that the Chinese national arrested held alleged money-laundering, was also bribing some Tibetan monks in Delhi, possibly to gather information on Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and his associates. Cash between ₹ 2 lakh and 3 lakh were given to many people, who live near Majnu Ka Tila in Delhi, said sources. The process to identify these people is on.
Luo Sang, who operated under the fake name Charlie Peng, was held in a raid in Delhi by Income Tax Department on Tuesday. He is also accused of espionage conducted in September 2018, the Delhi police said. He was out on bail at the time of raid.
Luo Sang had illegally entered India from Nepal in 2014, investigations have revealed. He went on to marry a woman from Mizoram and forged Indian identity passport from Manipur. He also had Aaadhar card and PAN card made in that name.
IT department has told government agencies that the bribe money for Tibetan monks was sent through men working at the office of Luo Sang. The department said the couriers have admitted to transferring the cash.
Sources also said that the group conducted its entire communication on Chinese app We Chat.
A Delhi-based Chartered Accountant has also been tracked down by the department, who was helping the group in money laundering. He is being questioned and is yet to be arrested, was operating more than 40 bank accounts.
Transactions around Rs. 300 crore were conducted through these accounts, the sources claimed.
Hong Kong was mostly the place through where these transactions were routed. Sources in the department said that discussions regarding this were also conducted through We Chat.
The IT department has attached the accounts, spread across several banks. The department also suspects that bank employees were also involved in some capacity and many of them are under scanner.
Bigger Chinese companies were issuing fake purchase orders for smaller Chinese companies. Bogus bills were raised by smaller Chinese companies, the IT department has found out.
The IT department, last week, had carried out searches in Delhi and other parts of the National Capital Region.
Peng and other Chinese nationals opened 40 bank accounts in the name of Chinese shell companies and laundered over ₹ 1,000 crore. Registered Chinese companies are accused of showing ₹ 100 crore in advance taken from firms — which turned out to be shell companies — to enter the retail market in India, the IT department has said.
For further investigation, the IT department is now is in touch with the GST Department.
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