New Delhi, April 29 (). The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out searches and seizures at three premises of Byju Raveendran and his company Think and Learn Pvt Ltd in Bengaluru. An official of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) gave this information on Saturday.
A source with knowledge of the matter said that various incriminating documents and digital data were seized during the searches.
The searches also revealed that the company has received foreign direct investment of Rs 28,000 crore between 2011 and 2023, the official said. Besides this, the company has also remitted Rs 9,754 crore to various foreign jurisdictions during the same period in the name of foreign direct investment.
An ED source said Byju’s CEO Raveendran was called several times in the last two years, but he did not join the probe.
To escape from the ED, he moved to Dubai with his family, the source said.
According to the source, the ED, left with no other option, sent a team, which conducted a search operation on April 27, which went on till the night of April 28.
An ED source said, “Our investigation has revealed that Byju’s hired Indian teachers and engaged them in online tutoring services.” Teachers were asked to provide online tuition classes to foreign students. Byju’s also collected money from parents of foreign children in their overseas accounts.
The ED alleged that the company has not prepared its financial statements from the financial year 2020-21 and has not got the accounts audited, which is mandatory.
The genuineness of the data provided by the company is being verified with the banks, the ED official said. The investigation was initiated against the platform based on various complaints received from various private individuals. Several summons were issued to the founder and CEO Byju Raveendran. However, he was always evasive and never appeared during the investigation.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson of Byju’s legal team said that recently one of their offices in Bengaluru was visited by ED officials, which was related to routine investigation under the provisions of FEMA.
“We have been completely transparent with the authorities and provided all the information requested by them. We have nothing but the utmost confidence in the integrity of our operations, and we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of compliance and ethics.
“We will continue to work closely with the authorities to ensure they have all the information they need and we are confident this matter will be resolved in a timely and satisfactory manner,” he said.
Underlining that it is business as usual, the spokesperson said: We are committed to delivering high quality educational products and services to our customers in India and around the world.
SGK/ANM
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