LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s accounting watchdog has opened 4 investigations into audits by King & King of metal and aluminium corporations owned by metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, it stated on Wednesday.
The Monetary Reporting Council stated the investigations are into the monetary statements of Liberty Speciality Steels Restricted, Alvance British Aluminium Restricted, Liberty Metal Newport Restricted and Liberty Efficiency Steels Restricted.
The investigations cowl the monetary 12 months to March 31, 2019 for Liberty Speciality Steels, Alvance – previously referred to as Liberty Aluminium Lochaber – and Liberty Metal Newport, the watchdog stated.
For Liberty Efficiency Steels, the probe covers the 12 months ended March 31, 2020, it added.
King & King, a small two-office accounting agency, had no rapid remark.
GFG Alliance stated the FRC makes clear that the investigation is into audit practices at King & King, and doesn’t contain GFG entities or people.
“We recognise the significance of robust audit practices and have been evolving our company construction and governance as we proceed our efforts to restructure and refinance our portfolio,” it stated.
The FRC stated it made the choice to research the audits in February, however gave no additional info.
Final month Britain’s Critical Fraud Workplace stated it had made coordinated raids on buying and selling addresses of GFG Alliance.
Gupta has been scrambling to refinance his worldwide community of metal and aluminium and vitality companies following the collapse of provide chain finance agency Greensill Capital.
Reporting by Huw Jones and Pratima Desai; Enhancing by Andrew Heavens, Louise Heavens and Jan Harvey
