SHILLONG, Sept 24 - Bank accounts of Directors of shell companies who have been �named and shamed� have been frozen to also enable investigators to find if any of these parked funds went to fund terror networks.
Union Minister of State for Law and Corporate Affairs, PP Chaudhury said here last evening that the blacklisted 2.09 lakh shell companies are being investigated while the accounts of the Directors are being kept frozen.
He said action like freezing of accounts have been taken to ensure these funds aren�t channelised to fund terror networks. Further action would be taken soon, he added.
�Internal assessment under Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Affairs is on. Action against some of them (Directors) has already been taken. Further action will be taken soon. Properties are also being checked to identify more such companies,� Chaudhury said.
Altogether names of 2.09 lakh companies have been deregistered under Section 248 of Companies Act, 2013. Over 1,200 companies falling under Registrar of Companies, Shillong region are also on this list. The Shillong regional office has jurisdiction over the seven Northeastern States.
Shell companies are entities without active business activities and insignificant assets. Some of these shell companies are used legally to raise funds in some cases for start-ups and others are used illegally to disguise ownership and divert funds from time to time.
Under section 248 of Companies Act, 2013, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has the power to deregister companies which have been dormant for significant period of time or have violated other corporate norms.
A large number of these shell companies were found to have misused to conceal black money and engaging in Hawala transaction following the demonetisation process.
�Data mining is continuing. It is also being investigated to find out who the beneficial owners are and we from the Ministry believe that corporate structure should not be misused so that the issues of black money and money laundering are addressed�, Chaudhury stated.
He said internal assessment and property checks on these companies by Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Affairs is going to identify more such companies.
�The government will have more details of companies not complying with the laid norms and how many are defaming the corporate structure,� Chaudhury stated.
