No firm placed in 'vanishing cos' category in last 5 years: Government

NEW DELHI: The government today said not a single company is placed in the category of 'vanishing companies' over the past five years.

Companies which fail to file documents and balancesheets after raising funds through public issues and go untraceable are called vanishing companies.

"There are no companies that have been placed in the category of vanishing companies over the past five years," Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

However, in complaints of serious nature involving companies that have defaulted after raising money from the public, the ministry has ordered investigation into the affairs of such firms.

Jaitley said 164 companies pertaining to so called 'chit/fund ponzi' cases have been referred to SFIO for investigation in this regard.

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is a multi-disciplinary organisation that probes cases of financial frauds referred to it by the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

The companies include PGF, PACL, Sai Prasad and its two group companies, Goldmine Agro and its six group entities.