Indian billionaire couple, Pankaj and Radhika Oswal, from New Delhi planned to build Australia's biggest home – Taj-on-Swan – that went terribly wrong.
The $70 million home overlooking the Swan River in Perth’s suburb of Peppermint Grove was planned to be Australia’s best house.
Pankaj and Radhika Oswal
But then, the ANZ bank stepped in with the receivers to take over the Oswals' company, Burrup Fertilisers (Yara Pilbara Fertilisers) as they owed more than $100 million.
The case came before the Victorian Supreme Court in March for pre-trial argument.
The civil trial will begin on 30 May 2016.
The Oswals set up one of the world's largest liquid ammonia plants in the Burrup Peninsula, employing 500 people.
They paid $22.7 million for a 6600-square-metre block of land and planned to construct an Indian-style palace home for the mega-rich – with 7 domes, 6 bedrooms, a temple, a gym, an observatory with a revolving roof, a swimming pool, and parking for 17 cars.
This meant almost $47 million on building costs which would have made it Australia's biggest and one of the costliest home at that time.
In 2008, Radhika Oswal told the Weekend Australian Magazine that their house would be “absolute fantasy”:
The smart young couple stand on the site of their Perth dream home, next to their four-wheel-drive Porsche, gazing out at one of the most expensive river views in the country. He is handsome with his square-chiselled jaw; she is slender, pretty and draped in gold jewellery. Stippled with afternoon sunshine, the scene resembles an advertising shoot selling the car, the real estate or the lifestyle.
But the construction halted in 2010.
Now, the Peppermint Grove shire council has demanded that the crumbling mansion should be demolished as it has become a den for drug users and squatters.
Taj Mahal on the Swan Source: AAP
The Oswal’s have lodged an appeal with the State Administrative Tribunal which has been dismissed.
Apart from almost $900 million debt to ANZ Bank, the Australian Taxation Office is also pursuing Radhika Oswal for an alleged unpaid bill of $186 million i taxes.
The ATO alleges Radhika tried to defraud creditors by placing a $45 million mortgage over the Peppermint Grove property and another Perth house.
ATO has frozen the Oswals' assets in Australia over alleged unpaid taxes thus making this one of the biggest personal tax debts in Australian history!
The Oswals have moved to Dubai five years ago leaving behind their ‘Taj-on-Swan’ crumbling.
