Overseas Indian billionaire Pankaj Oswal and his family are exploring various legal options against Ugandan authorities who illegally detained their daughter, Vasundhara Oswal, for more than three weeks. The family, which commissioned their newly established extra neutral alcohol (ENA) plant in Uganda in October, is also planning to shift all its future investments, including its second ENA plant that was proposed there, to other locations.
“How can you expect a fair deal in a country that can’t protect a young businesswoman like me from the hands of corrupt officials who extort money from people like us by slapping false charges?” asks the young Oswal in an exclusive interview with The New Indian Express during her brief visit to India, following her release from three weeks of illegal detention in Uganda.
"We are looking at all legal options involving international and bilateral provisions as well as human rights laws against Ugandan officials for their illegal actions. Additionally, we have decided to move our proposed second ENA plant, which will be much larger than the existing one, from Uganda to Tanzania," she added.
Vasundhara Oswal was 'arrested' at her factory premises in Luwero, Uganda, during the first week of October, just one day after returning to the country to oversee the commissioning of the new ENA plant. She had been in Uganda for the past few years, overseeing the plant’s setup.
“The armed individuals who raided the factory didn’t have an official order or arrest warrant. I was detained without charge, repeatedly moved from jail to jail, and held in unsanitary conditions, with inadequate food, no medication, and no proper access to my family or lawyer. In the end, I was accused of the most serious crimes, without evidence or explanation,” she said.
The Ugandan officials were reportedly acting on a notice based on an anonymous email received by Interpol in Switzerland, alleging the kidnapping and murder of one Mukesh Menaria, a former staff member of the Oswal family. While the Interpol notice reportedly included charges of criminal offenses, the Ugandan authorities, who raided the factory as part of the investigation, forcibly took Vasundhara Oswal in what appears to have been an attempt to pressure her father, a global businessman, into extorting more money, she claims.
“These charges of kidnap and murder were entirely fabricated. I swore under oath twice that Mukesh had been subjected to no wrongdoing. These allegations were finally debunked when they found Mukesh alive and hiding in a hotel in Tanzania,” Oswal stated. She added that each time she was moved from one jail to another, officials and lawyers demanded money, promising to help her escape the false charges.
“My father transferred several thousand dollars to them just to secure my release.”
Meanwhile, Pankaj Oswal, who holds Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status, filed a petition with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), requesting urgent action in response to what he claims was the illegal detention of his daughter by Ugandan authorities.
Vasundhara Oswal’s lawyer, Cherie Blair CBE from Omnia Strategy LLP, had earlier pointed out, “At the same time Vasundhara was seized from her Luwero plant, her company’s in-house lawyer, Rita Ngabire, was also detained. Again, no legal basis was provided. Vasundhara was initially detained for nearly 90 hours. Omnia Strategy understands that detention without charge for this length of time is unlawful under Ugandan law, as the maximum allowed period is 48 hours. International human rights conventions also state that the length of her detention constitutes arbitrary detention, for which Uganda is accountable.”
Cherie Blair CBE, KC, and Omnia Strategy LLP were retained as international human rights counsel to secure Vasundhara’s release and defend her rights.
“We now understand that my arbitrary detention was linked to false allegations that our family was involved in the disappearance of Mukesh Menaria, who had taken a loan from us but was also caught stealing valuable jewelry from us in Uganda. We terminated his employment in August 2024,” Vasundhara explained.
Vasundhara Oswal’s defense against the false allegations was supported in Ugandan court, where evidence in the form of affidavits signed by Mukesh Menaria were presented by her lawyers. These affidavits stated: “I affirm that at no point was I kidnapped or tortured by my employers [the Oswal family], and I stayed voluntarily.” Mukesh also stated, “…I left Uganda of my own free will, intending to return to India, and was arrested by Tanzanian police in Misenyi District.”
Finding the charges in the anonymous email unfounded, Swiss Interpol chose not to investigate and has already withdrawn the notice. However, Ugandan authorities have not dropped the case and are still pursuing us, though they have reduced the charges now," Oswal says.
“It became clear that this was nothing more than business rivalry. Some Indian businessmen, who are in the same line of work as us in Uganda, were behind these allegations. One of them even promised to help me get out of detention if I transferred part of my shares in our ENA business,” she added.
“Finally, it was only after very top-level intervention from the Ugandan government, facilitated by international agencies, that I was granted bail,” says Vasundhara Oswal.
However, despite leading PRO Industries' $150 million investment in the ENA plant—the largest in East Africa—Vasundhara Oswal says, “I’ve lost faith in the system there and am seriously considering moving all my future business out of Uganda. Though we will continue operating there for the time being, we will fight these false charges and the inhumane treatment I endured under international human rights provisions.”
