The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the income-tax department are investigating the role of about 100 brokerages which they believe may have helped shell companies launder as much as Rs16,000 crore by compromising so-called know-your-customer (KYC) norms, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
This is part of an ongoing probe into shell companies by the ministry of corporate affairs, which has identified some 16,000 potentially bogus firms after drawing inputs from the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, these people said.
