Who is Lakshmi Mittal?
Mittal is an ambitious Indian steel magnate who apparently wishes to emulate Andrew Carnegie, the late 19th- and early 20th-century American tycoon. His company LNM Holdings is the world’s third-largest steel firm, and its corporate headquarters are in London. For tax purposes, LNM Holdings is registered in the Dutch Antilles. Mittal has a house on North London’s billionaire’s row, and his neighbours include the Sultan of Brunei and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. What did he do? In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mittal says he donated £125,000 to the Labour Party on May 23, 2001, two week before last year’s General Election. Labour officials accepted his contribution and, as the law demands, reported the donation to Britain’s Electoral Commission. Mittal is an Indian national, but because he is registered to vote in British local elections, he, like any foreign national who puts their name on an electoral register, is entitled to donate money to a British political party. The Polit
