Former ICI boss in divorce battle with Indian-origin wife

LONDON - Former Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) chairman Charles Miller Smith - a man with strong business ties with India - has asked his Indian-origin wife to leave their ’super prime’ London mansion in a high-profile divorce battle.

Miller Smith and his second wife Debjani Jash, former ICI company secretary, jointly bought the property for six million pounds (Rs.46 crore) in 2005 - a year after getting married.

He now wants a court order asking her to leave the mansion - currently valued at 14 million pounds (Rs.109 crore) - so that it can be sold and the profits divided between the two.

Miller Smith told a court Wednesday he should not have to pay a monthly mortgage that was as high as 27,000 pounds (Rs.21 lakh) in order to retain the property, situated in the plush Kensington neighbourhood of London.

The City veteran, who was vice chairman of Hindustan Lever and a director at the ICICI outsourcing arm OneSource, left the home last year while his wife continued living there.

But Debjani’s lawyer John Wilson argued her estranged husband could afford to make payments on the mortgage - demonstrated by the fact he recently took out a long lease on a country estate. The court also heard that his income approached a million pounds a year.

The 69-year-old multi-millionaire divorced his 44-year-old second wife last month, but a court has so far granted them a decree nisi, withholding a decree absolute.

Miller Smith is also chairman of Asia House, a London-based centre for business, diplomatic and cultural interaction between Asia and Britain.