SFIO Submitted 82 Investigation Reports in 3 Years

New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has submitted 82 probe reports in the last three financial years, with a maximum of 40 reports in 2023-24, the government said on Tuesday.

During the same period, the probe agency was assigned 26 cases by the corporate affairs ministry.

Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday said there is no such verified information regarding an increase in the number of corporate fraud cases in the last five years that have been noticed by the ministry.

The response was to a query on whether the ministry has noticed an increase in the number of corporate fraud cases in the last five years.

As per data provided by him in a written reply, SFIO has submitted 82 investigation reports to the ministry in the last three fiscals.

A total of 40 reports were submitted in 2023-24, higher than 29 and 13 reports submitted in 2022-23 and 2021-22, respectively.

"No amount has been recovered by the SFIO during the last three years," the minister said.

In the last five financial years, the investigation agency was assigned a total of 72 cases, including 26 cases in 2019-20, 20 in 2020-21 and 14 in 2021-22.

The ministry assigned 7 and 5 cases to SFIO in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively.