The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has arrested an individual identified as mastermind behind the establishment of a large number of Chinese-linked shell companies in India and the provision of dummy directors on their boards.

The arrest comes amid crackdowns on Chinese shell companies alleged to have committed “serious financial crimes”.

In a statement on Sunday, the Department for Corporate Affairs said it arrested a Dortse, who is on the board of Jillian India Ltd, on Saturday.

This follows simultaneous search and seizure operations conducted by the ministry on September 8 at the offices of Jillian Consultants India Private Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jilian Hong Kong Ltd in Gurgaon, Fininty Pvt Ltd in Bangalore and Husys Consulting Ltd in Hyderabad Has.

“Dortse is on the board of Jillian India Ltd and has clearly emerged as the mastermind of the whole brawl of integrating a large number of shell companies with Chinese connections into India and installing dummy directors on their boards. The person arrested, who Dortse proved to be, was a resident of Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, according to records filed with the Registry of Commerce,” the statement said.

According to the ministry, evidence obtained during RoC Delhi’s investigation and simultaneous searches clearly indicated that dummy directors of Jilian India Ltd were paid to act as dummies in several shell companies.

“Boxes full of company seals and digital signatures of dummy directors were found on the website. The Indian employees were in contact with the Chinese colleagues via the Chinese instant messaging app Husys Ltd (and were found to be acting on behalf of Jilian India as well). Ltd,” it added.

Initial observations revealed that Husys Ltd entered into a pact with Jilian Hong Kong Ltd. would have. Investigations so far have revealed the possible involvement of these shell companies in serious financial crimes affecting the country’s financial security, it added.

The ministry commissioned the SFIO to investigate Jilian Consultants India Private Limited and 32 other companies on September 9.

“Dortse and a Chinese citizen are the two directors of Jilian Consultants India Private Limited. Based on submissions and the investigation conducted, it was determined that Dortse had fled Delhi NCR to a remote location in Bihar State and was attempting to flee India through the road route.

“A special team was immediately formed in the SFIO and delegated to the remote location mentioned. On the evening of September 10, 2022, the SFIO arrested Dortse, who was later brought before the competent court and orders for his pre-trial detention were obtained,” the statement said.

(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard contributors; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)