Business

SFO investigating Gupta business empire including Greensill finance links

The Serious Fraud Office has said it is investigating steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s business empire – including links with Greensill Capital.

The SFO said in a statement said it was looking into “suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering in relation to the financing and conduct of the business of companies within the Gupta Family Group Alliance (GFG)”.

It said the investigation included GFG’s financing arrangements with Greensill Capital, the lender which collapsed earlier this year.

The announcement comes a day after former prime minister David Cameron faced intense scrutiny by MPs over his lobbying on behalf of Greensill over access to a Bank of England emergency business support scheme set up at the onset of the coronavirus crisis.

Mr Gupta’s GFG Alliance controls Liberty Steel, whose 3,000 workers have been facing uncertainty since Greensill’s demise.

Last month the tycoon pledged in a Sky News interview that, on his watch, none of his steel plants would close.