Probe ordered against 185 firms for fraud: Government

New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) The government has ordered investigation into 185 companies for alleged fraud in the last four years, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

"Based on the complaints received, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has ordered investigation through Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) into the affairs of 185 such companies during the last three years and up to January in the current fiscal," Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here.

Gangwar said that out of 185 companies, the cases pertaining to West Bengal are as many as 135.

"The government has received various complaints regarding cheating of small investors, particularly by the companies involved in ponzi/chit fund activities in different states in the country," he said.

Chit fund companies are registered and regulated under Chit Funds Act, 1982 and administered by the Registrar of Chits of the state government.

"The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also informed that it has registered 30 cases relating to chit fund and ponzi schemes in West Bengal. At present these cases are under investigation," he said.

The Reserve Bank of India has indicated that out of 486 cases pertaining to unauthorised collection of money by entities in various states/union territories considered in state level coordination committee, 116 cases pertain to West Bengal.

The State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) is the joint forum formed in all states to facilitate information sharing among the regulators and enforcement agencies of the state with the objective to control the incidents of unauthorised acceptance of deposits by unscrupulous entities.

The SLCCs were reconstituted in May 2014 with renewed focus on unauthorised collection of money by unscrupulous entities.