Vasile Frank Timiș (born 1964) is a Romanian-Australian businessman living in London, with interests in mining and oil extraction industries. The Sunday Times Rich List estimated his wealth at £162m (US$238m) , making him the 497th richest person in Britain. The Romanian magazine Capital reckoned Timiș to be the 9th richest Romanian, estimating his wealth at $290m . In 2012 he became the richest Romanian with a net worth of £1.34 billion (US$2.13 billion). A BBC News investigation alleged that Timiș paid £35.20 in tax in 2017 despite living a life of luxury, and included a statement from the Tax Justice Network suggesting that Timiș be investigated for tax fraud. In 2017, BP acquired Frank Timis's stake in a Senegal gas field for $250 million, with documents later revealing an additional $9-12 billion in royalties to be paid to Timis's company. Both parties deny wrongdoing, with Timis having an estimated net worth of $12 billion.
Early life
Born in Borșa, Maramureș County, he graduated from a vocational school for auto mechanics. He left Romania and settled as a refugee in Perth, Western Australia. Whilst in Australia he was convicted of possession of heroin with intent to supply and fined A$27,000.
Career
Companies in Australia
Timis was arrested twice for possession of heroin in the Eighties and was deemed “unsuitable” to be a director of a company by the Toronto Stock Exchange for failing to disclose those convictions. Timiș started his own transport company in Australia, which owned only one truck driven by himself. However, it went bankrupt in 1986 with debts of 15,806 AUD. According to Jurnalul Național, Timiș failed to declare this fact in the CV he published when he listed the company Gabriel Resources on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as required by law.
In 1992, he became the CEO of Morwest Holdings Pty Ltd, the first of his gold mining businesses. Timiș and two Australian miners dug for six months for gold in a region called Mosquito Creek, but the result was a failure. In the meantime, he founded another three companies: Riverdale Mining, Timis Corporation, and Carpathian Investments, together with Ioana Timiș and his sister, Ioana Majdik. However, these companies were liquidated by Timiș, and all creditors were paid in full.
Another setback was Timiș' investment in Pneumatic Systems International Pty Ltd. In 2001, he quit his investment and kept only 11.6% of the company, administered via a new company, Regal Group Services, in the British Virgin Islands tax haven. According to an ex-manager of the company, in 2003, those shares were worth under A$1,500.
Regal Group Services changed its name and headquarters, and is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange as Regal Petroleum. This company is associated with a Romanian company, Global Mineral Resources, owned by a son of a former Romanian senator of the Democratic Party, Teodor Hăucă, who used to be secretary of the Economic Commission of the Romanian Senate between 1996 and 2000.
Gabriel Resources
In 1995, Timiș founded Gabriel Resources NL Australia, and in the autumn of the same year, the Romanian state-owned mining company "Regia Autonomă a Cuprului din Deva" (RAC) announced that it was searching for a partnership with a foreign company for the mining of precious metals from the tailings in Roșia Montană and Gurabarză-Brad. However, Jurnalul Național claims that it has documents indicating a collaboration signed by RAC Deva and Gabriel Resources one day before the announcement was published, on 4 September 1995. Also, RAC claimed it received several offers, including from another Australian company, Lycopodium Pty Ltd., but that company has denied RAC's claim.
According to ASIC, in April 1996, Gabriel Resources NL had financial problems with its creditors, including the National Australia Bank, and Timiș started a new company after paying all creditors in full, Gabriel Resources Limited, registered in the Jersey tax haven. The mining contract was redirected to the new company. Timiș had an 80% stake in the joint company. The Romanian Agency of Mineral Resources declared that the new contract was unfavourable to the Romanian state, but it was allowed by the Government after a parliamentary vote.
Timiș had access to various databanks of the Romanian research institutes of mineralogy and got data on the area. His company also hired relevant scientists and an ex-officer of the Topographic Department of the Romanian Ministry of Defence who mapped the area.