Hotel sales hit hurdle, Subrata Roy Sahara’s release may get delayed

NEW DELHI: A sudden rash of protests against the "homophobic" Sultan of Brunei's bid to acquire Plaza and Dream Downtown Hotels in New York and Grosvenor House in London from Sahara has cast a shadow over the ability of Subrata Roy to raise money to fulfill his bail conditions within the court mandated deadline of two weeks for his participation in sale negotiations.

It's learnt that the Sahara Group was very close to striking a deal for selling two iconic properties in New York and Grosvenor House in London, which would have allowed it to raise the amount for Roy's bail. But in the wake of the protests, the Sultan appears to have developed cold feet.

When contacted, a Sahara spokesman said, "Due to the prevailing situation (in the US), there is a state of confusion." He chose not to elaborate. The "situation" is the opposition from rights groups to the Sultan, who has recently passed a new Sharia law in his country against homosexuality, to his proposed acquisition of the Sahara properties. "The price concluded by the Sultan was 45% higher than the valuation of the properties, which was provided by Bank of China and accepted by the Supreme Court of India," sources privy to the process said. If that was, indeed, the case, Roy's release from Tihar Jail was a question of days. Now, it could take longer for either the Sultan to regain his nerves or for Sahara to find another buyer.

The Sultan of Brunei, who was one of the first prospective buyers of the properties, is understood to have been in talks with Sahara for over three months and had offered a deal which included the three hotels along with the mortgage of Amby Valley City.

The Supreme Court had allowed Roy and three other directors of the company to be relocated to a Tihar Jail conference room to enable them to negotiate with domestic and international investors for selling or mortgaging its properties and raise the remaining amount to meet the bail conditions.

The company was confident that Roy's presence in the negotiations would help the company realize better value for its properties. The Sahara chief and two other company directors have been in jail since March 4 and the company has so far been unable to fulfill the stiff conditions set by the apex court for his release.

Sahara had said the restrictions on the sale of its properties and freezing of its bank accounts had dealt a huge blow and acted as a major obstacle to meet these conditions.