Pramod Mittal, man who spent �50 million on his daughter's wedding, is Britain�s biggest bankrupt

London, 22-Oct-2020

Pramod Mittal, brother of Britain�s 19th richest person Lakshmi Mittal, reportedly owes people �2.5 billion, making him Britain�s most bankrupt person. He claims to have no income, assets worth �7000 of jeweller; �66,669 worth of shares; and property worth �45 in India. But says 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. The 64-year-old businessman also claims that his family home is in the name of an offshore company in which he had �no financial interest�. Known for his spending sprees, Pramod Mittal is the same man who spent �50million in 2013 on his daughter Shristi�s wedding to Dutch-born investment banker Gulraj Behl which is �10 million more than what his elder brother Lakshmi Mittal spent on his daughter Vanisha�s wedding in the Palace of Versailles in 2004. It�s been reported that Lakshmi Mittal is not bailing his brother out this time. It all went downhill for Pramod Mittal 14 years back when he consented to be a guarantor for debts of a Bosnian coke producer called GIKIL. His Isle of Man-registered Global Steel Holdings signed to stand in as the guarantor to the debts of GIKIL and that�s when it all went caput. GIKIL could not make repayments to its steel trading guarantor firm in London. That debt was then pursued by a company named Moorgate Industries, which obtained the bankruptcy order. According to a statement by Moorgate Industries, bankruptcy proceedings were initiated after Pramod Mittal failed to make payments on agreed deadlines. �The debt arose following an LCIA arbitration award made in the petitioner�s favour in 2017 against a Bosnian company, the debts of which had been guaranteed by Mr Mittal and an Isle of Man-registered company (presently in liquidation),� Moorgate Industries statement said. �Moorgate brought proceedings in the Commercial Court seeking to enforce the guarantee and obtained an award against Mr Mittal and the Isle of Man company (for some US $166 million). Following those awards, Mr Mittal entered into a settlement agreement with Moorgate, under which he made payments to Moorgate in part-satisfaction of a reduced sum agreed to under the settlement agreement. After he failed to make one of the payments by the agreed deadline, Moorgate initiated bankruptcy proceedings,� it said. Eventually, Judge Catherine Burton in June 2020 issued a bankruptcy order against Pramod Mittal for �139,786,656.43 plus interest. In addition to this, the Bosnian misadventure further resulted in an investigation against him charging him to be involved in organised crime for which he was arrested but later on released at a bail of �1 million. The investigation is still going on. As for the repayments, Pramod Mittal has proposed to pay 0.18p for every pound he owes.