The grant-making charity founded by the controversial steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta is expected to continue its work despite growing questions about his business empire.
The GFG Foundation, which was established in 2017 as a grant-maker supporting training for engineers, is funded exclusively through donations from Gupta and his wife.
Companies House documents show the couple gave the charity more than £650,000 between 2017 and 2021.
It also benefits from staff time provided for free by companies owned by Gupta’s GFG Alliance, known as ‘in kind’ donations, which the charity values at a further £300,000.
The Serious Fraud Office opened an investigation into the GFG Alliance last year over suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering, while two of the companies that have provided long-term support to the charity are now embroiled in legal and regulatory challenges against Gupta’s business empire.
Gupta denies all wrongdoing.
The charity remains wholly reliant on the Gupta family for funds, despite acknowledging the importance of diversifying its sources of income as long ago as 2018, when its accounts said it planned to find partners for match-funding or encourage fundraising by GFG Alliance employees.
Every set of accounts for the past four years says fundraising activity to go with the Guptas’ donations “will occur at some point in the future”.
Third Sector understands that the Guptas made another financial contribution to the foundation in 2021/22 and the GFG Alliance says it is “fully committed” to the charity.
But neither the charity nor the business would say how much the Guptas had given, nor provide details about the future of the ‘in kind’ donations from Gupta’s companies.
These firms are listed as “businesses providing employees as volunteer mentors” in the accounts.
One of those companies, Wyelands Bank, which is part of GFG Alliance’s Wyelands Capital group, announced in February that it had “no viable future”, and planned to wind down after recording a £116m loss in the year ending in April 2021, according to reporting in the Financial Times.
In March 2021, Wyelands Bank was told to repay £210m to thousands of savers by the Prudential Regulation Authority, an arm of the Bank of England.
Wyelands Capital has provided staff mentoring to the GFG Foundation every year since 2017, according to the charity’s documents.
The GFG Alliance is also fighting a legal battle against the bank Credit Suisse, to prevent three of its companies from being wound up over unpaid debts.
One of these companies, Liberty Commodities, has also contributed free time and expertise to the GFG Foundation every year since the charity was founded.
Gupta has come under increasing pressure from creditors and regulators after funding GFG Alliance’s expansion by borrowing billions of pounds from Greensill Bank, a German-based bank owned by the financier Lex Greensill. His company, Greensill Capital, filed for insolvency in March 2021.
Documents show the Guptas made four donations to the GFG Foundation between 2017 and 2021, totalling £665,250. Four in-kind donations during the same period were valued at £301,921.
The GFG Foundation has made dozens of grants to cover university and school scholarships.
Its main beneficiary is the Engineering Development Trust, which has received £440,000 since 2017 to deliver an industrial cadets programme.
Asked specific questions about future donations by the Guptas and their companies, and whether the board had discussed the future of the charity in light of legal and regulatory challenges to some companies, the GFG Foundation referred all questions to the GFG Alliance.
A spokesperson for the group said: “GFG Alliance is fully committed to the GFG Foundation and its work in the UK.
“In July the GFG Foundation completed a three-month pilot educational programme for 20 Rotherham students in collaboration with the Engineering Development Trust to develop their skills for the growing green jobs market.
“Outside the UK the foundation operates in Australia, Romania and the Czech Republic, and we anticipate and are planning for further growth in the years to come.”