Garena Free Fire Probe: Executive Board Search for premises, freeze bank accounts paying with Coda
India’s financial crime agency on Tuesday raided Coda Payments India’s premises as part of a money-laundering investigation into the fintech company and Sea Ltd’s Free Fire.
The Executive Director (ED) said it had started an investigation into the companies after complaints that the platforms had illegally deducted from online game users’ accounts.
ED conducted searches at 3 establishments related to M/s Coda Payments India Pvt Ltd in connection with an ongoing investigation under PMLA, 2002 against M/s Coda Payments India Pvt. Ltd and ‘Garena Free Fire’ mobile game and frozen bank account balance of Rs. 68.53 Crore.
– ED (@dir_ed) September 27, 2022
Coda enables cross-border payments for games and other digital products, including Garena Free Fire, Teen Patti Gold, and Call of Duty. The ED also froze all Coda accounts, which had a total balance of Rs. 685.3 million.
Coda Payments and Sea did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Earlier this year, Reuters, citing four sources, report that Singapore raised concerns with India over a ban on popular game app Free Fire, owned by technology group Sea, in the first sign of diplomatic intervention after the move prompted investors to fear.
After the ban, the market value of the New York-listed Southeast Asian company fell by $16 billion (about Rs 1,30,400) in a single day and investors are said to be worried India might expand. it to the Sea e-commerce app, Shopee, which had just been launched in the country at the time.
Sources, including two Indian government officials, have claimed that Singapore asked Indian authorities why the app was being targeted in a growing crackdown on Chinese apps. , although Sea has its headquarters in the affluent city.
Singapore asked if the app was “inadvertently banned”, one of the Indian officials familiar with the diplomatic initiative told Reuters.
Two Indian sources told Reuters at the time that concerns raised with India’s foreign ministry had been directed to the information technology (IT) department, which ordered the ban.
Garena Free Fire is one of 54 apps that are forbidden government about its links to China, as they are accused of being a threat to the country’s security. Banned apps include Garena Free Fire, Tencent’s Xriver, and NetEase’s Onmyoji Arena. So far, the government has blocked nearly 300 apps in the country since border tensions erupted with China in May 2020.
© Thomson Reuters 2022