Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel received Government grants worth £276,245 even after its lender Greensill Capital came under investigation for taxpayer-backed loans handed to the steel group.
Documents seen by The Mail on Sunday show Innovate UK, a Government agency, and the Welsh Government gave the money after the Treasury launched an investigation into Greensill on October 9.
The Treasury’s British Business Bank is investigating Greensill for supplying tens of millions in Government-backed loans to Gupta entities.
The grants were approved on October 20 as part of Wales’s £500m Economic Resilience Fund
The taxpayer is on the hook for 80 per cent of the loans, but the guarantee can be withdrawn if a lender breaks the scheme’s rules.
The Welsh Government gave Liberty’s Newport plant a £132,000 grant to save 132 jobs, while the Tredegar plant was given £49,000 to save 49 jobs.
The grants were approved on October 20 as part of Wales’s £500million Economic Resilience Fund. Innovate UK approved a grant of £95,245 to Liberty Powder Metals on December 1.
Innovate UK said its grants were checked by independent experts, and that the award was made when the agency was certain Liberty was solvent. The Welsh Government said its funding schemes had provided ‘essential support’ for firms.
Liberty owner GFG said it applied to relevant authorities for loans and support to secure jobs. It said Liberty ‘regularly’ responded to public funding calls for research.
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