The business empire of Sanjeev Gupta, the owner of Liberty Steel, is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
The investigation suspects fraudulent transactions and money laundering, including a funding arrangement with the failed company Greensill Capital UK.
Greensill, the main lender of Mr. Gupta’s business, collapsed last month.
Gupta’s family conglomerate, the GFG Alliance, said it would fully cooperate with the investigation.
“These issues are the subject of an SFO investigation and I can’t comment further,” a GFG spokeswoman added.
The GFG Alliance employs 35,000 people in companies from Wales to Australia.
With the company’s reliance on Greensil, many worried that it might itself be at risk after the collapse of the financial company.
On Thursday, former Prime Minister David Cameron, who worked for Greensill and lobbied for the government, appeared in front of MPs to answer questions about his role.
The announcement of the Serious Fraud Office’s investigation into the work of the metal-based empire in Sanjeb Gupta has serious consequences before evidence is heard.
First, the BBC understands that it feels that the business sector has proved that it has not agreed to demand £ 170m of government bailouts from the so-called “steel savior.”
Second, and perhaps more importantly, it recedes attempts by Gupta to raise new money to replace the money he once received from the now-deceased Greensill.
The government has promised to save a steel mill owned by Gupta’s GFG Alliance, which is currently in dire financial difficulties, but the investigation makes it even more unlikely that it will survive in its current form. I will. The news arrives the day after former Prime Minister and former Greensill employee David Cameron defended his role in urging Greensill to give Greensill access to a government-sponsored Covid loan program. I will.