new delhi a black money bonhomie has come under the scanner involving builders brokers and bollywood entities as a multiagency probe gets underway to pierce the corporate veil of hundreds of suspected shell companiessebi has begun shooting off showcause notices to 331 listed entities suspected to have acted as shell companies for those with illicit funds while action has also begun against more than 100 unlisted entities that could have traded in stocks with laundered money top regulatory and government sources saidwhile the capital market regulator sebis decision to restrict share trading has been reversed in case of some firms after they approached the securities appellate tribunal it has been permitted to go ahead with its probe against them and others who could have violated securities lawswhile many of these companies have gone public to deny any wrongdoing and have said they are not shell companies a top official said a wrong perception has got created about this nomenclature and even established and wellknown firms can act as shell companies by providing a platform for money laundering and converting black money into whitewhile several small brokers are already in the list of suspected shell firms their links to bigger brokerage groups are being probed by sebi another official saidalso under the scanner is the role of some brokers in creating a paniclike situation in the stock market after sebis action to restrict trading in shares of 331 firms he said while adding that the move would have safeguarded the interest of minority shareholders but the brokers with their skin in the game wanted to get their money outas sebi securities and exchange board of india continues its probe affairs of these companies are also being looked into by agencies such as it department ed and sfio serious fraud investigation office to unravel what one top regulatory official described as a big black money bonhomieseveral of these firms are also suspected to have indulged in huge cash dealings postdemonetisationmarking coordinated efforts on their parts the regulatory and investigative agencies are sharing their investigation reports with each other the official saidciting official documents and preliminary probe findings multiple regulatory and government officials said nearly 500 entities including listed and unlisted ones are currently being probed but some of the names have not been made public yet due to the sensitivity of the matter and to safeguard the investigation processany action against such big names would take place after the investigation has reached some conclusive stage they addeda large number of companies having acted as shell firms are linked to businesses like real estate commodities and stock broking films and television including those on digital platforms plantation and nonbanking financial services the officials saidanother worrying trend is that several of these companies including listed ones could have helped launder money collected illegally by unlawful moneypooling schemes by groups already barred by one or other regulator said one of the officials who didnt want to be named as investigations are underwayalso under the scanner