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The Office of Serious Fraud has launched an investigation into Gupta’s GFG

The UK’s Office of Serious Fraud has opened an investigation into alleged fraud, fraudulent trade and money laundering in the Sanjeev Gupta metal empire, including its relationship with the fallen capital Greensill.

The SFO said on Friday that it was “examining the financing and business conduct of the Gupta Family Group Alliance (GFG) companies, including the financing it had with Greensill Capital UK”.

The anti-graft agency has come under heavy pressure to investigate the Gupta steel conglomerate, the Financial Times reported that GFG has issued suspicious invoices to Greensill in exchange for the money. The GFG has denied the wrongs and Greensill was not required to verify the bills.

According to people familiar with the research, SFO has been talking to txistularis for about a year.

SFO’s statement says GFG Greensill is allowing the collapse of its chief financial aide to the financial group that was advised by former Prime Minister David Cameron.

The loose conglomerate GFG of companies including Liberty Steel employs 35,000 people in metalworking plants from Wales to Australia.

He recently sought 170 million euros in freedom in the state of Liberty, the third largest producer of alloys in the UK with 3,000 employees. The UK government rejected the request.

GFG said it will work “fully in collaboration” with the SFO investigation. The group added that it was “making progress in refinancing its operations, benefiting from operational improvements and the very strong markets for steel, aluminum and iron ore.”

The group has been in talks with White Oak Global Advisors, a private U.S. financial firm, about a $ 200 million loan to provide emergency capital for Yorkshire Steel’s emergency capital, but any deal is still subject to due diligence.

In previous cases, the anti-graft agency has privately evaluated them for several years before formally reporting them, such as in the case of British American Tobacco, which began in 2015 but was officially launched in 2017.

Serious public interest or market demands are key factors in bringing probes into the public domain.

The SFO will examine the links between GFG and Greensill, including the basis for the extended funding. In April, the Financial Times revealed that some companies named to Greensill in cash-billed invoices had refused to do business with GFG. Gupta later told FT that such a company was listed as a “potential” customer, and the funding was provided on that basis.

Merchandise merchants have launched investigations after registering their similar web domains with the email address of a GFG employee.

The SFO is taking over the GFG probe at a weak point as it torpedoed a trial against two former Serco executives last month for failing to share some evidence with the defense. Director Lisa Osofsky is under a lot of pressure to be convicted, following a series of allegations that saved the company’s first brass band.

After several consultations on the Gupta-Greensill network, lawmaker Richard Fuller was called in to begin a probe.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Treasury selection committee are examining Greensill.

German financial regulator BaFin has filed a criminal complaint against the management of the German bank Greensillen for allegedly manipulating the balance sheet. The BaFin action came after an investigation by an independent auditor, which raised concerns about the level of exposure the bank has to Gupta-related companies.

Greensill had $ 5 billion in exposure to the GFG when the financial company collapsed in March.

Credit Suisse wants to squeeze some UK and Australian Liberty Steel companies into repaying money for customers who have invested in Greensill loans through bank funds.

Additional news from Robert Smith, Cynthia O’Murchu and Michael Pooler


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