BRITAIN’S Serious Fraud Office has raided the offices of metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s UK operations of GFG Alliance, in a probe into its links with the collapsed financier Greensill.
The raids come almost one year after the SFO launched an investigation into suspected fraud and money laundering by the Indian-British giant GFG.
The SFO said in a statement that its investigators visited GFG offices on Wednesday (27) to request documents including balance sheets, annual reports and correspondence.
“Investigators spoke with executives at multiple addresses, who co-operated with the operation,” the SFO added.
“As the investigation is ongoing, the SFO can provide no further comment.”
A number of sites across England, Scotland and Wales were raided, according to Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency.
A GFG spokesman declined to comment on the matter.
However, according to an internal staff memo, the group denies wrongdoing and is complying with the SFO investigators.
“We have consistently rejected any wrongdoing on our part and pledged to cooperate fully to ensure they can conclude their investigations as quickly as possible,” the memo read.
“We will comply with the information request orders and will continue to cooperate fully in all manners.”
Wednesday’s development comes a day after news that the French headquarters of GFG Alliance and a foundry had been raided by investigators probing suspicions of money laundering and abuse of corporate assets.
The raids last week at the Paris corporate office and the Aluminium Dunkerque foundry were part of a preliminary investigation opened in July last year and is being conducted by a specialised financial crime brigade, according to a source close to the case.
Gupta and his Liberty Steel firm was once seen as the saviour of British steelmaking.
However, since the collapse of Greensill, which specialised in short-term corporate loans via a complex and opaque business model, GFG has scrambled to cut costs in order to survive. But Gupta had said in December that his group had made “great progress” after the fall of the financier.
The group is meanwhile undertaking a drastic overhaul after the high-profile Greensill failure.
Liberty Steel, which employs 3,000 people in Britain, has already announced a restructuring and the sale of several factories in England.
(AFP)
