The federal Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India has frozen the assets of FinTech Firm,’ WazirX’ following ongoing investigations into the operations of the company.
This, the ED said is part of ongoing investigations over money-laundering against several shadow banks and their fintech companies for violation of central bank norms and indulging in predatory lending practices.
According to the ED, the assets frozen amount to about 646.70 million rupees ($8.16 million).
According to the ED,’ WazirX’is being investigated for its role in assisting instant loan app companies in laundering the proceeds of crime by converting them into cryptocurrencies on its platform.
In a press release, ED said “While doing fund trail investigation, ED found that large amounts of funds were diverted by the fintech companies to purchase crypto assets and then launder them abroad … maximum amount of funds were diverted to WazirX exchange and the crypto assets so purchases have been diverted to unknown foreign wallets,”
The ED launched the investigation last year into WazirX for suspected violations of foreign exchange regulations.
Responding, WazirX said in a tweet”We have been fully cooperating with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for several days and have responded to all their queries fully and transparently. We do not agree with the allegations in the ED press release. We are evaluating our further plan of action.”
