State officials are looking for possible securities fraud in the Chrysler Getrag venture that fell apart last year, leaving Tipton County taxpayers owing at least $3 million on the uncompleted project.

Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita disclosed the two-week-old inquiry Tuesday at a meeting with the Tipton Rotary Club.

Chrysler abandoned the $530 million factory last fall in a financial dispute with German transmission maker Getrag. By then, Tipton and Tipton County had used borrowed money to build sewage and water plants to service the factory on U.S. 31.

Officials in Tipton County have asked for reimbursement from the companies for the infrastructure loans but have received no money, Tipton Mayor Dan Delph said.

Chrysler is living on federal bailout loans, and Getrag Transmission Manufacturing, the joint venture set up to build and run the new plant, is in bankruptcy reorganization.

“I don’t think that’s something to consider at the outset of the investigation,‘’ Rokita spokesman Jim Gavin said about the partners’ financial condition. "Secretary Rokita needs to do his job to protect taxpayers and make things right for Tipton County. That’s his role, his priority.’’

Chrysler is controlled by a rich hedge fund in New York, Cerberus Capital Partners, while the German company is in good condition financially, according to news reports. Gavin said he would not speculate on whether the state would press Cerberus or Getrag in Germany for money.

“They kept pushing to get the bonds ready,‘’ said Tipton’s Delph. "We issued the bonds one day, and the very next day Chrysler called it off. A big corporation knowingly did that. That’s why Rokita is checking that out for fraud.’’

Chrysler and Getrag each fronted about $5.5 million in loans to build water and sewer plants. The companies in turn bought $11 million in county- and city-issued bonds. The bonds, which are a kind of loan, were to be paid off using property tax revenue from the new factory.

Separately, the county and city issued $3 million in bonds sold through Harris Bank in Chicago and backed by property taxes in the city and county, Delph said.

Chrysler and Getrag formed the Tipton venture in 2006 to build a factory for fuel-efficient transmissions. It was to be staffed by 1,200 Chrysler autoworkers from its Kokomo complex.