UK Serious Fraud Office visits premises of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance

The UK Serious Fraud Office visited sites connected to Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance on Wednesday, taking documents and interviewing staff as it steps up its probe into the industrialist’s empire.

The move comes days after French police officers searched properties, including metalworks, linked to Gupta.

The SFO went to sites in Scotland, England and Wales. The agency said its teams “attended trading addresses earlier this morning, issuing Section 2 notices to request documents including company balance sheets, annual reports and correspondence related to the SFO’s investigation”.

The operation marks an escalation of the SFO’s probe into suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering at Gupta’s metals empire, which it launched in May last year.

Jeff Kabel, chief transformation officer for Liberty Steel, which is part of GFG, told employees in an internal note that the company would “comply with the information request orders” from the SFO and would “continue to corporate fully in all manners”. The company, he added, had “consistently rejected any wrongdoing”.

Liberty had in place “very strict information and document preservation policies” that it had implemented prior to the SFO announcement, Kabel added, while urging employees to observe these policies.

“We appreciate these enquiries can be disruptive and concerning for employees and stakeholders. However, we are encouraged that the investigation is now progressing and is moving closer to a conclusion.”