Investor group calls on government to investigate Bumi and ENRC

Business Secretary Vince Cable has been called upon to launch an official investigation into FTSE 100 mining companies Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) and Bumi.

According to a letter from PIRC, the independent advisory consultancy to institutional investors, the government should use its powers under the Companies Act to launch an investigation into ENRC and Bumi on the basis they "fall short of the standard expected of UK listed companies".

According to The Daily Telegraph, the letter to Cable said: "Both companies are UK registered companies, but both are in the ludicrous position of commissioning investigations into themselves, when the directors of the parent companies themselves may well have cases to answer.

"[This is a] problem resulting from over-liberalisation of the listing regime when the UK Listing Authority was under the control of the ineffective Financial Services Authority, and the newly listed London Stock Exchange was pulling in lower quality companies on a volume and fee driven basis.

"If there are perceived to be cost implications for your department in these difficult times then we would offer that the right party to suffer the costs would be the LSE. It is the LSE that was responsible for, and had profited from, bringing such companies to the London market."

shares in ENRC were down 6.12% to 271.30p by 12:25 on Friday. Bumi shares have been suspended since the beginning of the week after its results were further delayed.