Pramod Mittal Declared Bankrupt by UK High Court

Pramod Mittal Declared Bankrupt by UK High Court

The Insolvency and Companies Court in London has reportedly declared Pramod Mittal bankrupt due to his debt of over £130 million. Pramod Mittal is an Indian businessman who was the chairman of Ispat Industries Limited (now JSW Ispat Steel) and is also the younger brother of Lakshmi Mittal.

Mittal is also the head of the supervisory board and co-owns Global Ispat Koksna Industrija Lukavac (GIKIL), a metallurgical coke producing firm situated in Northern Bosnia, which is also one of the country's biggest exporters.

It has been reported that, Mr. Mittal went bankrupt due to his role as a guarantor in 2006 for the debts of GIKIL which basically triggered his downfall. The company failed to repay $166 million. In 2019, he was arrested in Bosnia for suspected fraud and abuse of power. Mittal and his two colleagues were arrested and released in Bosnia after paying off €12.5 million in July last year. He also owed a debt of $166 million in 2013 to Stemcor, which is a British Company involved in steel trading and distribution. The steel dynasty now claims that he owes 2,549,089,370 pounds, including more than 170 million pounds to his 94-year-old father, as per the report. He also owes 1.1 million pounds to his wife, Sangeeta, 2.4 million pounds to his son Divyesh and another 1.1 million pounds to his brother-in-law Amit Lohia.

Stemcor went on to separate its non-trading businesses into a different firm called Moorgate Industries, which was granted the firm that had been given the bankruptcy order.

Michael Swangard and Duncan Lockhart, who were lawyers for Moorgate, said to The Times, "Mr Mittal's bankruptcy represents a significant step forward for Moorgate in what has been a long and arduous process to recover significant monies owed to it by Mr Mittal and several of his connected companies."

Furthermore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in India had also registered a case of cheating and corruption against him in 2017 for reportedly causing a loss of Rs 2,112 crore to the State Trading Corporation (STC).In India, Mr. Pramod is facing a money-laundering investigation for suspected fraud of Rs 2,200 crore with the State Trading Corporation as of yet. It was alleged that Mr. Mittal had committed "criminal breach of trust" as he failed to make payments as per terms and conditions of the agreement with STC.