ED issues show cause notice to Byju Raveendran in FEMA violation case
The Adjudicating Authority of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued ‘show cause’ notices to edtech firm Think and Learn Private Limited, and Byju Raveendran over alleged violation to the tune of Rs 9362.35 crore under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999.
The ED in a statement on Tuesday said that it had started a probe based on various complaints regarding the foreign investment received by the company and its business conduct.
The company was also stated to have made significant foreign remittances outside India and investments abroad which were allegedly in contravention of provisions of FEMA, 1999, and caused loss of revenue to the Government of India, it said.
Based on the information, ED conducted searches at the premises of Think and Learn Private Limited and the residence of Byju Raveendran on April 27 and 28 this year and seized documents pertaining to all investments received by the company as well as documents pertaining to the overseas investments made by it.
The ED said that during the investigation, statements of Byju Raveendran and the Chief Financial Officer of Think and Learn Private Limited were recorded.
“On conclusion of the investigation, it was found that Think and Learn Private Limited and Byju Raveendran have contravened the provisions of FEMA by failing to submit documents of imports against advance remittances made outside India, by failing to realize proceeds of exports made outside India, by delayed filing of documents against the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) received into the company, by failing to file documents against the remittances made by the company outside India and by failing to allot shares against FDI received into the company,” the ED said.
Earlier in the day, the edtech major BYJU’s denied reports that ED has issued any show cause notice to the company over alleged violations under the FEMA.
In a communication to IANS, the company “unequivocally denied” media reports on the ED notice.
“The company has not received any such communication from the Enforcement Directorate,” a spokesperson said.