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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.

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  • South Asian workers turned pub rejection into a thriving desi pub scene.
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From rejection to reinvention

When south Asian foundry and factory workers arrived in England decades ago, they faced a harsh reality, refusal at the pub doors and their response was by building their own. From The Scotsman in Southall over 50 years old, run by Shinda Mahal, to Birmingham’s The Grove and The Covered Wagon, these establishments emerged as immigrant workers from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh moved to the West Midlands.

Now, as the UK government launches a fast-track review to scrap outdated licensing rules, these south Asian pubs stand ready to write a new chapter in British hospitality. “Pubs and bars are the beating heart of our communities. Under our Plan for Change, we’re backing them to thrive”, said prime minister Keir Starmer.

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