China’s ByteDance has informed an Indian court docket {that a} authorities freeze on its financial institution accounts in a probe of potential tax evasion quantities to harassment and was carried out illegally, based on a submitting seen by Reuters.
ByteDance in January diminished its Indian workforce after New Delhi maintained a ban on its well-liked video app TikTok, imposed final 12 months after a border conflict between India and China. Beijing has repeatedly criticised India over that ban and people of different Chinese apps.
An Indian tax intelligence unit in mid-March ordered HSBC and Citibank in Mumbai to freeze financial institution accounts of ByteDance India because it probed a number of the unit’s monetary dealings. ByteDance has challenged the freeze on the 4 accounts in a Mumbai court docket.
None of ByteDance India’s staff have been paid their March salaries as a result of account freeze, stated two folks accustomed to the matter. The firm informed the court docket it has a workforce of 1,335, together with outsourced personnel.
In the 209-page court docket submitting lodged on March 25, ByteDance informed the High Court in Mumbai the authorities acted in opposition to the corporate with none materials proof and gave no prior discover, as required by Indian regulation, earlier than such “drastic action”.
Blocking accounts “during the process of investigation amounts (to) applying undue coercion,” ByteDance argued. It is “intended, improperly, to harass the petitioner.”
India’s Directorate General of Goods & Services Tax Intelligence, and the finance ministry which oversees it, didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark over the weekend.