Sebi empanels 34 entities for conducting forensic investigation of mutual funds, AMCs, trustees

Sebi has empanelled 34 entities, including Ernst & Young LLP, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP and Grant Thornton Bharat LLP to conduct forensic investigation of mutual funds, their asset management companies (AMCs) and trustees. KPMG Assurance and Consulting Services LLP, Chokshi & Chokshi LLP, Nangia & Co LLP and Pipara & Co LLP are among the other empanelled entities, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a latest update.

The period of empanelment is from September 20, 2023 to September 19, 2026, it added.

These 34 entities have been empanelled after evaluation of all the applications in response to Expression of Interest (EoI) invited by the capital markets regulator in February.

The entities are required to undertake acquisition, extraction and analysis of digital evidence from mobile, computers, tablets, hard drives and USB drives. Also, they need to prepare and submit a report mentioning the findings and conclusions of the analysis.

In July, Sebi increased the role and accountability of the mutual fund trustees in a bid to safeguard unitholders’ interest amid the growing scale of the mutual fund industry.

Also, the regulator specified the “core” responsibilities of trustees of a mutual fund, wherein they will have to ensure that AMCs have adequate systems to prevent mis-selling to increase their assets base.