Increased Manpower at SFIO | 13 Mar 2020

Why in News

The government is set to more than double the manpower at the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to nearly 350 as the office continues efforts to curb corporate wrongdoings.

Serious Fraud Investigation Office

• It is a multi-disciplinary organization under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, consisting of experts in the field of accountancy, forensic auditing, law, information technology, investigation, company law, capital market and taxation for detecting and prosecuting or recommending for prosecution white-collar crimes/frauds.
• It is headquartered in New Delhi.
• The Computer Forensic and Data Mining Laboratory (CFDML) was set up in 2013 to provide support and service to the officers of SFIO in their investigations.
• SFIO was initially set up by the Government of India by way of a resolution dated 2nd July 2003. At that time SFIO did not enjoy a formal legal status.
• Section 211 of the Companies Act, 2013 has accorded statutory status to the SFIO.
  
  • SFIO has powers to arrest people for the violation of the Company law.
• SFIO can initiate an investigation into the affairs of a company under the following circumstances:
  
  • On receipt of a report of the Registrar or inspector under section 208 (Report on Inspection made) of the Companies Act, 2013.
  • On intimation of a special resolution passed by a company that its affairs are required to be investigated.
  • In the public interest.
  • On request from any department of the central government or a state government.