Lakshmi N Mittal,Moni Varma settle multi-million-pound case out of court

Mittal,63,Britain’s richest man and chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal was being sued by former friend and fellow millionaire,Moni Varma – owner of Veetee Rice,over allegations that Mittal reneged on an agreement to pay fees on a major deal he brokered for him in oil-rich Nigeria.

In documents presented to the court,Varma claimed to have facilitated a deal in 2006 for Mittal to access two unexplored oil fields in the Niger Delta,and to have arranged a meeting with former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.

It is believed Obasanjo had been lined up to give witness evidence in the case.

However,the claim had been dismissed as “opportunistic and speculative” by Mittal,who is worth an estimated 12.7 billion pounds.

India-born businessman Varma,64,one of Britain’s biggest rice traders,had insisted that the courts would decide.

The deal in question involved a joint venture between a Mittal company,an Indian state oil company and the Nigerian state in which the JV acquired two Nigerian oil blocks in return for a USD 6-billion investment in Nigerian infrastructure.

In the end the oil fields both proved unproductive.

The case had created a stir here as it was likely to offer a rare glimpse into the workings of one of Britain’s largest business empires as well as a possible cross-examination of its billionaire chief,Lakshmi Mittal.

The full details of the final settlement between the two parties remain unclear at this stage.