Industrialist Pramod Mittal, the younger brother of UK-based steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, has claimed that he owes GBP 2.5 billion pounds. This would make him Britain's biggest bankrupt.
Mittal, 64, was declared bankrupt this summer by the Insolvency and Companies Court in London with debts of over GBP 130 million.
He now claims that he owes GBP 2,549,089,370, including more than GBP 170 million to his 94-year-old father, as per media reports.
The businessman has valued his assets at just GBP 110,000 and claims to have no personal income.
The media reported that Mittal is offering to pay back his creditors just 0.18 of a penny for every pound he owes and hopes to resolve his bankruptcy. His biggest single lender is a British Virgin Islands company called Direct Investments Ltd, which claims to be owed GBP 1 billion.
Mittal, who heads the supervisory board and co-owns metallurgical coke producer Global Ispat Koksna Industrija Lukavac (GIKIL), one of Bosnia's biggest metallurgical coke producers, lost his fortune after he acted as a guarantor for the debts of the company in 2006. The deal turned sour as the company failed to repay USD 166 million of financing in 2013.
Last year, Pramod Mittal was arrested in Bosnia, along with two of his company officials, on charges of suspected fraud. He also faces a money laundering probe in India in the alleged fraud of INR 2,200 crore with the State Trading Corporation (STC).
