TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (8) TMI 1075
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....e and disburse interest accrued on the amounts attached pursuant to the order dated 30.12.2025 passed by the respondent freezing the bank account of the appellant from the date of the freezing order (30.10.2025) till the date of disbursement; permit the appellant to operate its bank account and utilize the funds for legitimate business operations subject to appropriate safeguards as deemed fit by this Appellate Tribunal; and permit the appellant to operate their accounts to the limited extent of making payments towards all operational expenses including but not limited to employees' salaries, statutory dues, including advance tax/income tax, GST, and pending and recurring contractual dues etc., as per details provided. However, the application has been pressed by the appellant only to the extent of payment of salaries due to the employees of its holding company, M/s Winzo Pvt. Ltd. and statutory dues by way of GST as well as TDS deducted by the company which remained unpaid to the government on account of attachment of the accounts of the appellant company as well as its parent company, M/s Winzo Pvt. Ltd. Facts in Brief 2. The relevant facts briefly are that in pursuance of ....
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.... filed in November, 2025 in respect of which a quashing petition is pending. It is submitted that the alleged proceeds of crime as per the said FIR is only to the extent of Rs. 42 lakh. Moreover, even if all the offences alleged against the appellants are taken together, the cumulative proceeds of crime are only to the extent of Rs. 4 crore. As against this, amounts to the extent of Rs. 193 Crore and Rs. 495 crore have been frozen in the hands of M/s Zo Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Winzo Pvt. Ltd. respectively. 6. It is further pointed out that a Writ Petition was filed by M/s Zo Pvt. Ltd. in the High Court of Karnataka (WP No. 962/2026), wherein the Ld. Single Judge, vide his order dated 02.02.2026, was of the view that there must be a direction to the respondent to communicate to the concerned bank for authorization to pay salaries to the employees after due verification. The court disposed of the petition with liberty to the petitioner to contest the proceedings with the Ld. AA against the continuation of the order of freezing of its account beyond 180 days. The petitioner was directed to file with the respondent, within a week, the list of employees to whom salaries have to be paid for....
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....iary of M/s Winzo Games Pvt. Ltd. and had made payment to the extent of Rs. 22,48,31,440/- on behalf of its parent company M/s Winzo Games Pvt. Ltd. from 08.12.2025 to 30.12.2025 based on the approval of Sh. Paavan Nanda and Smt. Soumya Singh. The said M/s Winzo Games Pvt. Ltd., holding company of the appellant/applicant, was accused of rigging daily quiz and wallet blockings to the extent of Rs. 802.39 crore out of which an amount of USD 55 million have been taken out of the country in the guise of Overseas Direct Investment (ODI) to shell companies situated in USA and Singapore. Out of the proceeds of crime, M/s Winzo Games Pvt Ltd. diverted Rs. 200 crore to the applicant, M/s Zo Games Pvt. Ltd., which has no employees or business activities of its own, in the guise of unsecured loan. It is also noted in the order that there is a high possibility of flight of the Directors and the revenues generated by the company to a foreign nation. 11. The manner of deriving the proceeds of crime was also referred to by the Ld. Counsel which have been discussed in the prosecution complaint filed by the Respondent in the case. It is stated that proceeds of crime were generated in the form of....
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....ibunal and this interim order is confined only to the application for interim relief as mentioned in para 1 of this order. In fact, pleadings are yet to be completed in the main appeal. Thus, at this stage what is required to be seen is whether on balance of interests, prima facie, sufficient grounds have been made out by the appellant/applicant for grant of the limited relief sought for payment of salaries of employees and statutory dues of the holding company, M/s Winzo Pvt. Ltd. 14. It is firstly noted that both the respondent Directorate as well as the Ld. AA have expressly admitted that attachment of the bank accounts and other assets of the appellant/applicant company is likely to cause inconvenience and operational hardship to them. However, they were of the view that this cannot outweigh the statutory objective of preserving properties suspected to be involved in money laundering. 15. Secondly, I find that there is no finding or averment to the effect that the expenses by way of salaries of the employees and the statutory payments are not genuine insofar as the holding company M/s Winzo Pvt. Ltd. is concerned, although it has been pointed out that the wholly owned sub....