Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's brother bailed in Bosnia

Indian industrialist Pramod Mittal, brother of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, was released on Tuesday (30) after payment of 12.5 million euros, a week after his arrest in a Bosnian fraud probe, a prosecutor said.

Pramod Mittal was caught up in the inquiry following the suspicious transfer of 21 million Bosnian marks (nearly 11 million euros, $12 million) from the bank account of a coking plant between 2006 and 2015.


The 62-year-old head of the supervisory board of GIKIL, which operates a coking plant in the northeastern Bosnian town of Lukavac, was arrested last Tuesday.

Two other company officials -- general manager Paramesh Bhattacharyya and another member of the supervisory board, Razib Dash, -- were also arrested.

A court in Tuzla, in the northeast on Tuesday "annulled the provisional detention order and all (three) suspects have been released," prosecutor Cazim Serhatlic told AFP.

They had been detained for a month in view of the "flight risk, repetition of criminal acts and breach of public order".

Bail for Mittal was set at one million euros and 250,000 euros for the other two Indians. All three were forbidden to hold any senior positions at GIKIL.

Serhatlic said an "insurance" of 11 million euros was also paid into a special account and had to remain there until the end of the proceedings.

The company was founded in 2003 and is co-managed by Pramod Mittal's Global Steel Holdings and a local public company (KHK).

In operation since the 1950s, the coking plant employs around 1,000 people.

In India, Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of global steel giant ArcelorMittal, has reportedly spent millions to keep his cash-strapped younger brother afloat.

More For You

ArcelorMittal

The logo of ArcelorMittal at the entrance of their Dunkirk site in Grande-Synthe, northern France. (Photo: Getty Images)

French lawmakers back move to nationalise ArcelorMittal France

FRANCE'' lower house of parliament voted late Thursday to nationalise ArcelorMittal France, the country's largest steelmaker, despite opposition from the government and an expected rejection in the Senate.

The proposal was put forward by far-left parties in the National Assembly to counter ArcelorMittal's plans to cut jobs. The company announced cost-cutting measures in Europe this year that are expected to lead to around 270 job losses in France.

Keep ReadingShow less