Hyderabad: The Kurnool district police, which is probing a criminal case against direct selling company Amway, said on Friday that it is in the process of obtaining information from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to verify if the firm had violated any foreign exchange laws.
"We are in touch with the ED. We to need to check if there are any violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). We are yet to get official information from the ED if any alleged FEMA violations took place," Kurnool Superintendent of Police (SP) Raghurami Reddy told PTI.
Another police officer said that the ED is already probing this angle.
The SP also said that the police would refer some products sold by the company to the food and drug authority to check if necessary permissions were obtained to sell them.
"If the products sold are certified or not and if necessary permissions have been taken for their sale or not needs to be checked," he said.
However, Reddy said that the major focus of their probe would be alleged violations of provisions of 'The Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.
Amway India chief executive William Scott Pinckney was arrested by Kurnool Police on Monday last from Gurgaon. He is presently under judicial custody and lodged in Central Prison in Warangal district after the Khammam police took him into custody from a prison in Kadapa district.
Amway faces criminal complaints in different districts of Andhra Pradesh including Hyderabad. According to the police, the CID had registered a criminal case against Amway in 2006.
The company had approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking a declaration that its marketing scheme does not fall under the provisions of 'The Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978', but the court held that the scheme is an illegal 'Money Circulation Scheme' and falls within the definition of mischief as described in the Act.
The company got no relief from the Supreme Court either, the police had said.
Terming the FIRs as "frivolous and misleading", Amway had said in a statement that there is a need to amend the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978 (PCMCS) under which complaints have been filed against Amway and its CEO.
