Officers of the agency, which primarily investigates white-collar crimes, are directed to issue only digitally generated summons and notices, except in rare circumstances, the ministry said in a statement.
These digitally generated summons and notices now carry a QR code and a unique document identification number (DIN), enabling individuals and companies to instantly verify the authenticity of any communication received from the probe agency.
“These verification systems have been put in place to give citizens immediate assurance that any communication they receive is genuine and to prevent impersonation or misuse,” the ministry said.
Moreover, SFIO has set up a transparent multi-layer review mechanism to oversee the issuance of summons and notices.
The agency investigates complex corporate frauds assigned to it by the government under Section 212 of the Companies Act, 2013. This section empowers the government to order an SFIO probe after assessing reports of the registrar of companies or in the public interest, among others. In the five years through FY23, the agency completed investigations in 73 cases.