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Taj on the Swan
Demolished in October 2016.
Owned by Indian businessman Pankaj Oswal and his wife Radhika, they purchased the Peppermint Grove 6,582m² block of land at 2 Bay View Terrace for $22.7 million on 23 July 2006. Construction of the $70 million mansion, nicknamed Taj on the Swan, would begin the following year but would never be completed.
The original construction plans included “a large private gym, beauty salon, observatory with a revolving roof, parking for 17 cars and an enormous swimming pool”.
Following the collapse of the company, Burrup Holdings, they left the country in 2010. The incomplete mansion was listed for sale with a $40m price tag but no buyer could be found. It was later held for auction with a $20m opening bid but no takers could be found and it was passed in at $15.6 million.
The couple were said to owe the Peppermint Grove council over $100,000 in unpaid rates, with the Australian Tax Office freezing the land sale as a result of owing millions of unpaid taxes.
After remaining abandoned for six years, the Shire of Peppermint Grove won a long-running battle to demolish the mansion.
The land was sold for $17m on 1 August 2018.
Pankaj Oswal
Born in India in 1953, Pankaj is the son of Abhay Kumar Oswal, founder of Oswal Agro Mills and Oswal Greentech. Upon graduating from Manipal Institute of Technology, Pankaj worked for his father’s enterprises.
He married Radhika Oswal in 1997 and together they have two daughters, Vasundhara and Ridi.
Burrup Holdings
Co-founded and developed by Pankaj in 2001, the Indian-backed company, known today as Yara Pilbara Holdings, was behind the $700m Burrup Fertiliser plant built to make 850,000 tons of liquid ammonia per annum”.
Originally estimated to cost $630m, the company was promoted by Oswal Projects Limited and was expected to produce “about 2,200 tonnes of liquid ammonia from natural gas each day” for both the Australian market and overseas.
Norwegian company Yara International had a 35% stake in the company but would later acquire another 16% ownership. Founded in 1905, Yara’s mission was to “responsibly feed the world and protect the planet”. Apache Corp hold the remaining balance of 49%.
A falling out ensued between the Oswals and several partners, including Yarra, which resulted in a long-running litigation. It saw the nasty dispute taken to the Federal Court after Oswal attempted to “reduce the reporting requirements of Burrup Holdings by changing its company status”.
Burrup Controversy
The Oswals were accused of embezzling up to $150m from Burrup Holdings to fund their lavish lifestyle, which included private jets, luxury cars, his wife’s vegetarian restaurant chain Otarian and funding the construction of the Taj on the Swan. This resulted in the ANZ bank placing Burrup Fertilisers into receivership in December 2010.
Burrup Today
The Burrup Fertilisers Pty Ltd has since been renamed Yara Pilbara Fertilisers Pty Ltd and is now one of the biggest ammonia production sites in the world, with an average annual production of 840,000 metric tons.
A number of issues and ammonia leaks have occurred at the Pilbara Fertilisers Plant over the years.
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February 2016: Eight workers who were painting the plant are taken to hospital for treatment or observation after 1.72t of ammonia gas is leaked.
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March 2016: Approximately 1.4 tonnes of ammonia gas is leaked (some reports state 14 tonnes)
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May 2016: 1.10 tonnes of ammonia gas is leaked.
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June 2016: 0.70t of ammonia gas is leaked.
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December 2016: 3.50t of liquid ammonia is leaked
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July 2017
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September 2018
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November 2019: “A seawater distribution header in the cooling tower ruptured, causing part of the structure to fail and damage to the cooling tower”
Family Controversy
Controversy appears to follow in the family. His father Abhay appeared to have “unlimited passion for new ventures” with none of his plans flourishing to the extent he would predict, attracting controversy after controversy. One of the biggest failures came after an explosion took place at Abhay’s huge phosphate fertiliser plant, resulting in the death of eight workers and injuries to 58 workers.
Abhay died in 2016 without leaving a will, which resulted in Pankaj and his mother Aruna feuding over who had a right to the massive inheritance. The matter was taken to the Delhi High Court in 2017.
The Oswals Today
The Oswals have lived in Switzerland since 2014. They purchased a $200m mansion, known as the ‘Villa Vari’, in the snow-capped mountains of Mt Blanc. It was originally owned by Greek businesswoman and heiress Christina Onassis, who died on 19 November 1988, aged 37.
Ridi is currently studying chemical engineering at a London University and has also “established herself as a successful singer-songwriter in the Indo-Western pop space”.
Vasundhara Oswald
Vasundhara majored in finance with distinction and since graduating, became the Executive Director of PRO Industries and the Director General of Axis Minerals.
For the past three years, Vasundhara has resided in Uganda to develop her family’s factory as part of the Oswal Group’s $100m investment “to establish East Africa’s first grain-based Extra-Neutral Alcohol (ENA) production facility”.
On October 1, 26 year old Vasundhara was detained by a group of armed police officers in Uganda, claiming she was under investigation in relation to a missing person. Whilst the man she was accused of kidnapping is alive and well in Tanzania, Vasundhara continues to be imprisoned in squalid conditions on these bogus charges. Pankaj and Radhika have gone into hiding, as they try and find a way to free Vasundhara.
