The talk of town recently for moving into one of the 10 most expensive houses in Switzerland, India-born Cypriot business couple Radhika and Pankaj Oswal failed to open a bank account to operationalise a company set up in 2017 for developing a petroleum refinery in Cyprus. The couple obtained Cypriot passports in 2018 but closed the company, Cyprol Limited, in 2019.
These are part of records of offshore corporate service providers such as ConnectedSky Legal & Corporate Consultants Limited of Cyprus, accessed as part of a global investigation by The Indian Express with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
In their submissions to Hellenic Bank and Bank of Cyprus, Radhika and Pankaj Oswal, as the ultimate beneficiaries of Cyprol Limited, put their “size of wealth” at USD 100 million each from inheritance, savings in personal accounts in Dubai, funds received from the settlement with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), gains from businesses such as Burrup Fertilisers, Oswal Middle East LLC etc.
The Cypriot banks, however, were not convinced.
“Please provide more evidence… as the Financial Statement cannot evidence the Depth of their Source of Wealth,” wrote a Bank of Cyprus executive in September 2017.
The Oswals left India in 2001 for Australia where Pankaj founded a liquid ammonia plant on the Burrup Peninsula. In 2011, the couple had to abandon their under-construction Perth mansion — dubbed ‘Taj on the Swan’ — and leave for Dubai after their partners in Burrup Fertilisers accused them of siphoning USD 150 million and the ANZ Bank appointed receivers to recover debts.
A protracted legal tussle ended in a settlement in 2016 when the ANZ Bank paid the Oswals an undisclosed amount in excess of USD 145 million for underselling their 65% stake in Burrup Fertilisers. All charges were dropped against the two.
In April 2017, the couple applied for Cypriot citizenship under the ‘naturalisation of investors’ scheme (withheld since 2020). In June, they set up Cyprol Holding Limited (CHL) as beneficiaries, and Cyprol Limited under CHL.
In an undated submission made to Eurobank, Cyprus, Cyprol Limited projected an annual turnover of Euro 5 million. The company also named both Oswal Middle East LLC (Dubai) and RPO Projects PTE Ltd (Singapore) as sources of funds (incoming transactions).
To obtain the relevant licence from the Cyprus government, Pankaj Oswal, according to records, authorised two Cypriot law firms for three months — December 2017 to February 2018 — for “the purposes of arranging a meeting between the Investor, the Authorised Persons… and the relevant governmental officials.”
The project plan envisaged an estimated investment of EUR 300-400 million for an oil refinery with crude oil processing capacity of approximately 10,000 BPD (Barrels Per Day). The construction was scheduled to commence by the third quarter of 2018.
However, according to the last available record in January 2018, the wait for a bank account continued. In May 2018, the Oswals were issued their Cypriot passports. In March 2019, Radhika and Pankaj Oswal identified themselves with their Indian passport numbers and instructed ConnectedSky “to proceed with the strike off” of Cyprol Limited.
Earlier, Pankaj Oswal had to abandon an USD3.5 billion oil refinery project at an advanced stage in Gladstone, Queensland, in March 2011 due to the turmoil around his Burrup Fertilisers. Soon after shifting from Perth to Dubai, the Oswals set up Oswal Middle East LLC (OME) as a general trading company. Radhika Oswal got her UAE residency permit in 2011, followed by Pankaj in 2012.
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Subsequently, according to Pankaj Oswal’s resume, OME promoted the acquisition of two leases of Bauxite mine through a group company Axis Mineral Resources in Guinea, Africa. RPO Projects PTE Ltd was incorporated in Singapore under OME.
Emails and messages for comments, sent by The Indian Express to Radhika and Pankaj Oswal and the “authorised signatory” for Cyprol Limited, Sanjay Wali, did not elicit a response.
Pankaj Oswal is the elder son of the late Abhey Oswal, founder of Oswal Agro Mills and Oswal Greentech. His brother, singer-entrepreneur Shael Oswal, figured in the 2021 Pandora Papers global investigation in which The Indian Express reported that he used his company in the British Virgin Islands, during 2010-11, to market coal sold by an Indonesian mining company that he partly owned.
