Sahara chief seeks 15 more days for hotel deal

NEW DELHI: Sahara chief Subrata Roy, in prison since March 4, on Friday told the Supreme Court that a deal he had struck with the Sultan of Brunei for sale of his three hotels in London and New York was in danger of getting cancelled because of a foreign media report and sought 15 more days to complete the deal.
Roy’s counsel, senior advocate S Ganesh, informed a bench of Justices T S Thakur and R Banumathi that after hard negotiations for two weeks, the Sahara chief was on the verge of clinching the deal but the report led to massive protests outside the hotels — Grosvenor House in London, and the Plaza and the Dream Downtown in New York.
Without directly saying that the prospective buyer was Sultan of Brunei, Ganesh said, “The protests have seriously threatened the deal. The deal has run into serious problem. Though they have not been formally cancelled, they are in danger of getting cancelled. It is a monumental setback for us and that, too, for reasons beyond our control.”
The court had granted one last opportunity, the deadline for which ends on Monday, to the Sahara chief to conclude the deal for sale of the hotels abroad, get the money and fulfill the condition — Rs 5,000 crore in cash and Rs 5,000 crore through bank guarantee — for release from Tihar jail.
Ganesh repeatedly requested the court to extend the time to continue the negotiations from the conference room in Tihar jail, where Roy was shifted from the jail barracks to enable him to oversee the talks round the clock, unhindered by the constraints of different time zones.
The bench said it would find the convenience of Justices A R Dave and A K Sikri, who along with Justice Thakur form the bench which have been hearing the case, and if possible would list Sahara’s new application for hearing on Monday. Ganesh, assisted by advocates Keshav Mohan and Gaurav Kejriwal, informed the court that Roy feels the protests could die down in a few days to allow resumption of negotiations with the potential buyer with whom the Sahara chief had clinched the deal and modalities for transfer of money had been worked out.
“We can either continue negotiations with the original buyer or start it afresh with three-four others. For that purpose, we need 10 more days,” he said and kept pressing for a hearing on Monday. Though the counsel requested the court for 10 more working days for negotiations, the application by Sahara sought 15 more working days. The bench said, “What will happen if we don’t extend the time for negotiations? You will have to go back to the barracks, that is all.”
An international paper had reported that the Sultan of Brunei had made a bid for New York’s Plaza and Dream Downtown and London’s Grosvenor House. An investment firm affiliated with Brunei had offered to pay $2 billion for the three hotels, the report said.