Delhi High Court refuses to stay bail to Vivo executives

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday refused to stay the bail order passed by a lower court that on Saturday released three top Vivo India executives, including its interim chief executive, who were arrested in a money-laundering case against the smartphone company.

Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma directed the executives to file within a week their replies to the Enforcement Directorate’s appeal against the lower court’s order.

The high court also asked the three executives not to leave the country without its permission and report to the investigative agency on Friday and Monday. The matter is posted for next hearing on January 11.


The ED had arrested Vivo’s interim CEO Hong Xuquan, chief financial officer Harinder Dahiya and tax consultant Hemant Munjal last month in a case where it has accused the local unit of the Chinese company to have remitted Rs 1 lakh crore outside India between 2014 and 2021 to avoid paying tax here.

The lower court ruled that the executives were detained illegally since they were presented in court after 24 hours of their arrest. The ED approached the HC appealing this order.

The high court, while hearing the matter, observed that there were now sufficient safeguards in place to prevent the executives including Hong, a Chinese national, from fleeing.

The lower court, while granting bail, had ordered the three to surrender their passports to the court and sign an affidavit undertaking they would not be tampering with any evidence. Further, to allay the apprehension of the ED, the court had ordered the three to appear in the ED office everyday till the high court took up the matter.

In the high court, while additional solicitor general SV Raju argued that the trial court order was totally “perverse” and the matter required urgent adjudication, the counsel for the accused sought time to file their response.