Tuesday 18 October 2011

SFIO to have Powers to Prosecute Cos

Bill to ensure transparency & accountability of corporates; to be cleared by Cabinet before Diwali

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) will have powers to investigate and prosecute corporate entities under the Companies Bill, 2011, expected to be cleared by the Union Cabinet before Diwali.
The bill also envisages rotation of company auditors for higher accountability, corporate social responsibility, a more effective regulation of related party transactions and stricter provisions to prevent siphoning of funds through subsidiary and associate companies.
The government expects the bill to modernise, reform and clean up the corporate sector. After the 2G spectrum, KG basin and CWG scams, there has been a growing public demand for tougher regulations of the corporate sector.
The SFIO set up by a Cabinet resolution in 2003, is bereft of powers to check or pre-empt corporate irregularities. The bill seeks to provide teeth to SFIO as per recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee which scrutinised the legislation.
SFIO will be headed by a director, who will have a multi-disciplinary team of experts to assist him. It will have the powers to probe companies suspected of frauds. SFIO’s report filed in a court for framing of charges will be equivalent to a police report under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. It shall have powers to arrest persons for suspected fraud. SFIO will also be able to coordinate with other investigating agencies such as CBI or Enforcement Directorate.
The Companies Bill, 2011, will replace the Companies Act, 1956. A comprehensive revision of the existing law became necessary following changes in various aspects of corporate governance in India and abroad. The 1956 law had been amended more than two dozen times and the government felt it was best to replace it by formulating a bill which factored in changes that would modernise corporate regulation.
The draft bill, according to an official, sought to address almost all concerns raised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, to which the earlier version, Companies Bill, 2009, was referred to after its introduction in the Lok Sabha on August 3, 2009, soon after Manmohan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister for the second consecutive term.
The bill will ensure companies will make more disclosures, induct independent directors for better governance and have provisions for various board committees such as audit, nomination and remuneration and a panel on stakeholders’ relationship.
The bill seeks to define ‘fraud’, and also outlines the punishment to go with each category of fraud. It also makes out a case for setting up a National Company Law Tribunal with its appellate body. The provisions have been brought in tandem with laws of Sebi, RBI and other regulators.
Reforming Corp Sector
• GOVERNMENT EXPECTS THE
bill to modernise, reform and clean up the corporate sector

• SFIO WILL BE HEADED BY A
director, who will have a multi-disciplinary team of experts to assist him

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