New Delhi: Lawyer Haren Raval counsel for Essar Steel Asia Holdings Ltd has alleged that ArcelorMittal India had knowingly filed a false affidavit pertaining to NPAs on October 18, 2018. Raval made these allegations during the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) hearing of the Essar Steel bankruptcy proceedings on Wednesday.
ArcelorMittal India, Raval said, had knowingly filed the false affidavit, saying that they had cured all the ineligibilities (NPAs of related entities) as directed by the Supreme Court in its October 4, 2018 order. This was contrary to the fact that Lakshmi Mittal continued to be a shareholder of a family holding company Navoday which was a shareholder of NPA entities, GPI Textiles and Gontermann Peipers.
He further said that ArcelorMittal, in order to further their falsehood, had sold the shares in these companies, as reflected in shareholding pattern as on October 31, 2018. Raval submitted a detailed note before the NCLAT to substantiate his claims and said ArcelorMittal India was guilty of misleading and suppressing the facts.
In addition, Raval said that the CoC was fully aware of these ineligibilities and still went ahead and voted in favour of ArcelorMittal India’s bid to acquire Essar Steel India Ltd. on October 23-24, 2018. To this the bench asked the lawyer of Essar Steel Asia Holding Ltd to file a written submission. The bench said that it would look into ineligibility.