The Companies Investigation Branch (or CIB) was part of the United Kingdom's
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) was a United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and was itself disbanded ...
.
Headed by the Inspector of Companies, CIB exercises on behalf of the
the statutory powers of enquiry under the
Companies Act 1985 and other legislation. These powers are exercisable throughout
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
, but not in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. Information obtained can be passed to other regulators for action; can result in the courts being petitioned to wind up the company; can result in an application being made to the courts for individuals to be disqualified from acting as a director of, or in the management of, a company; or can be used in a criminal prosecution of a company or its officers.
Civil servants within CIB carry out most investigations, although occasionally qualified individuals in the private sector are used – usually as a means of dealing with varying work loads, but sometimes because special expertise is required.
On 1 April 2006 CIB became part of the
Insolvency Service, an Executive Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, though its functions are unchanged.
External links
CIB websitearchived in September 2006
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
United Kingdom company law
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