A criminal investigations has been by the British Serious Fraud Office has been prompted by the suspension of two senior Tata Steel executives along with 10 other people suspended over forgery allegations.

Mark Broxholme, the managing director of the company’s specialty steels and bar business was suspended last November, reported The Guardian. Another senior executive who has been suspended and who has since left the business is Andrew Parker, the commercial director of the division

The seriousness of the claims is highlighted by the suspension of such senior figures within Tata Steel. The UK steel business, which is battling to survive after Tata announced it planned to pull out of the country, putting 15,000 jobs at risk has been dealt with a further blow by the investigation. While employing more than 2,000 people the speciality steels and bar business covers two of Tata’s biggest sites in Rotherham and Stocksbridge, both in Yorkshire.

An internal audit by Tata found certificates that verify the quality and composition of its steel may have been falsified which led to the potential scandal being discovered. The SFO was then informed about the findings by the company.

“The Serious Fraud Office confirms it opened a criminal investigation in December 2015 into activity at Speciality Steels, a business unit of Tata Steel (UK) Ltd. We can make no further comment at this time,” the SFO said in a statement.

Steel sold to about 500 customers, including BAE, Rolls-Royce, and oil and gas firms are covered in the documents being investigated. Rolls has confirmed it has been contacted by Tata. However the safety of the steel is not thought to have been compromised.

It is understood that Tata has suspended one employee in 2016 and nine others were suspended over the allegations last November. There was nor response from Broxholme, The Guardian reported.

Since 1980, the above mentioned executive has been working with Corus and British Steel before joining Tata. The individual sits on the board of the Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce and is a leading business figure in the local community. Since 2011, the speciality steels and bars business has been run by Broxholme. The division has service centres in Bolton, India and Suzhou and Xi’an in China as well as the sites in Rotherham and Stocksbridge.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Parker was commercial director of the business between April 2013 and November 2015. According to the website, Parker, who also could not be contacted, has been “actively seeking a new challenge” since December.

“We won’t be commenting on the individuals concerned,” Tata Steel said according to The Guardian.

Tata Steel in the UK, which employs 15,000 people and includes the Port Talbot steelworks has been at the centre of governments efforts to find a suitable buyer for the company.

Greybull, the investment firm, ThyssenKrupp, the German industrial conglomerate and Liberty House, which is run by metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta are among a number of potential buyers who have emerged. A buyout f the management is an option which is also being examined by the suitors.

Ratan Tata, the former chairman of the Tata group and now head of the charitable funds that control the conglomerate has however laid bare the scale of the challenge facing any buyer. Job cuts would be necessary to make the Port Talbot steelworks profitable, Ratan Tata said in his first intervention since the Indian firm announced it was selling its loss making UK business.

The “bottom just opened up” at the UK steel operation after Chinese steel exports poured into Europe, said Ratan Tata while speaking at a US Export-Import Bank conference in Washington DC.

“Right now the problem is that the English facilities are underinvested [and] overmanned,” Tata was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

“Cut back on the size and the scale of the operations and make them profitable” was what was needed to be done by the a potential buyer at Port Talbot, he said. This would be “extremely challenging” but not impossible, he added.

(Adapted from theguardian.com)