A steel tycoon who spent £50 million on his daughter's wedding claims he owes £2.5billion and has no income, making him Britain's biggest bankrupt.
‘The most bankrupt man’ is what the London’s Insolvency and Companies Court called Pramod Mittal, the brother of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal in June.
Judge Catherine Burton in June 2020 issued a bankruptcy order against Pramod Mittal for £139,786,656.43 plus interest.
A bankruptcy petition was filed against him by Moorgate Moorgate Industries (UK) Ltd. He allegedly failed to settle a debt of $166 million (about Rs 1,223 crore).
The businessman's assets are valued at 110,000 pounds, reported The Times. He has reportedly offered to pay back 0.18 of a penny for every pound he owes.
‘No Personal Income’
Mittal claims to have no income.
In a statement as reported by The Times, Mittal said, “My wife is financially independent from me. We have separate bank accounts and I have very limited information regarding her income. My personal expenditure of approximately 2,000 pounds to 3,000 pounds per month is mainly met by my wife and family. The legal costs of my bankruptcy are being met by another third party.”
He claims to have assets worth £7000 of jewellery, £66,669 worth of shares and property worth £45 million in India. He has told he owes about £170 million to his 94-year-old father, £1.1m to his wife Sangeeta, £2.4m to their 30-year-old son Divyesh and another £1.1m to his brother-in-law Amit Lohia, stated the media report.
He is the same businessman who made news when he spent 50 million pounds, or about Rs 505 crore, for his daughter Srishti’s wedding with a Dutch-born investment banker, Gulraj Behl in 2013.
That was £10m more than how much his older brother Lakshmi spent on his daughter Vanisha’s wedding at the Palace of Versailles in 2004.
The Downfall
In 2006, Pramod agreed to become a guarantor for debts of a Bosnian coke producer named Global Ispat Koksna Industrija Lukavac (GIKIL). The firm failed to repay $166 million. In 2019, he was arrested for suspected fraud. He leads the supervisory board of GIKIL and is a co-owner in the company, reported Hindustan Times.
In India, he is facing a money-laundering investigation for suspected fraud of Rs 2,200 crore with the State Trading Corporation (STC). The steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal had then helped his brother clear the debts.
Kin of One of the Richest
His brother Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of steel magnate ArcelorMittal, is one of the richest men in the United Kingdom, in India and in the world as well.
The Mittals started their business in India and then spread to several locations. ArcelorMittal is headquartered in the Netherlands, which is the world's largest steelmaking company. Mittal owns 38 percent of ArcelorMittal and holds an 20 percent stake in Queens Park Rangers FC.
Their father, Mohanlal Mittal, ran a steel business, Nippon Denro Ispat.
In 2007, Mittal was considered to be the richest Asian person in Europe. He was ranked the sixth-richest person in the world by Forbes in 2011 and has been a member of the board of directors of Goldman Sachs since 2008.
In 2005, The Sunday Times named him ‘Business Person of 2006,’ the Financial Times named him ‘Person of the Year,’ and Time magazine named him ‘International Newsmaker of the Year 2006.’
(With inputs from The Times, Hindustan Times)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)