ANZ agrees to multi-million payout to Pankaj and Radhika Oswal

ANZ has agreed to pay an Indian couple millions of dollars to call off their $1.5bn-plus lawsuit against the bank.

Pankaj and Radhika Oswal with their daughters Riddhi, 12, and Vasundhara, 18, leave the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Tuesday.

ANZ has agreed to pay Indian business couple Pankaj and Radhika Oswal millions of dollars to call off their epic $1.5 billion-plus lawsuit against the bank over their Burrup Fertiliser business.

The size of the settlement is unknown but sources close to the Oswals have always maintained it would take hundreds of millions of dollars to return them to the position they were in before the bank seized their stake in Burrup in 2010.

Last night, the two sides’ high-powered legal teams were locked in negotiations over the details of the settlement.

The talks started on Wednesday afternoon after Radhika Oswal told the Victorian Supreme Court that the couple and their two daughters were threatened by ANZ’s chief lawyer, Bob Santamaria, during negotiations over about $1bn that they owed the bank in December 2009.

The court earlier heard allegations that the bank’s then-chief risk officer, Chris Page, put Pankaj Oswal in a headlock during the same negotiations.

The two men were set to give evidence next month but will now be denied the chance to put their version of events before the court.

When the case started seven weeks ago, the couple’s counsel, Tony Bannon SC, told the court the Oswals could be entitled to up to $2.5bn in damages

Yesterday’s deal potentially solves one of ANZ’s legal problems but it still faces a new class action over interest rate fixing launched yesterday in the US, Australian Securities & Investments Commission action over the same issue and a defamation lawsuit launched by former broker Angus Aitken.

Yesterday’s negotiations took place at the offices of ANZ’s lawyers, Freehills, in Melbourne power tower 101 Collins Street — the same setting as the torrid 2009 negotiations at the centre of the mammoth lawsuit.

ANZ was represented by Mr Santamaria, Alan Archibald QC, who has been representing the bank in court, and Freehills partner Ken Adams.

The Oswals negotiated in person with the assistance of their solicitor, John Biggs of Watson Mangioni.

It was the second attempt to negotiate a settlement this week, with talks postponing the start of Mrs Oswal’s evidence on Tuesday.

She was due to be cross-examined by Mr Archibald yesterday morning.

The couple’s deal with the bank followed settlements with gas supplier Apache, who the Oswals said benefited at their expense when the Burrup business was sold, and Norwegian fertiliser company Yara, which owned the 35 per cent of Burrup not controlled by the Oswals.

Finalising the ANZ-Oswal settlement could take days or weeks because of the size and complexity of the claims made by the couple.

Also requiring resolution is a counterclaim made by ANZ that the couple misappropriated about $150 million from Burrup and spent the money on luxury cars, property and Mrs Oswal’s Otarian vegetarian restaurant chain.

Further complicating matters is the couple’s need to resolve its separate stoush with the Australian Taxation Office, which was initially valued at $180m but now is reportedly much reduced in size.

They have been barred from leaving the country until the bill is paid.