Business
Mirach offers Sahara three new options - with a threat
By
Arun KumarWashington, Feb 8
US-based Mirach Capital
Group has offered three new options to bail out Sahara group - a loan
after a Sahara apology for forgery allegations, acquisition of Sahara
properties or permanently end business dealings.
The new offer
was made in a letter Saturday by the group's Indian-American CEO Saransh
Sharma to embattled Sahara group chief Subrata Roy two days after what
he called "tarnishment" (sic) of Mirach's reputation with allegations of
forgery by Sahara.
"We both know that the question of Mirach
forging a letter cannot arise as the letter was sent directly from the
bank to Sahara's attorneys," Sharma wrote in the letter he has shared
with IANS.
If Sahara does not retract the "false public
allegations" then Mirach may sue Sahara for breach of contract charges
and demand compensation for an estimated loss of over $13 million in
likely earnings "from the imminent closing of this transaction," he
warned.
The syndicate of five UK and US investors had last month
made a $2 billion loan offer to Roy, who has been trying to raise money
to secure his release on bail from Delhi's Tihar Jail.
He has been locked up there since March on the Supreme Court's orders for failing to refund his investors.
Mirach,
which was specially formed for the execution of the Sahara deal, had
offered a loan against Sahara group's hospitality properties.
These
include the Plaza Hotel in New York, the Grosvenor House Hotel in
London, Sahara Star in Mumbai and Aamby Valley resorts in Maharashtra.
"The
sooner you realise that it is just a matter of time before these
properties will be taken away from you; the sooner you will feel your
burdens lighten," Sharma told Roy.
"Perhaps, things are not so
bad in prison for you, as no one is there to put pressure on you," he
wrote expressing his willingness to work with any of the three solutions
proposed by him.
"However, I will not allow you to target and
destroy my career when all I intended to do was structure a solution
that benefitted every party involved," Sharma wrote.
"Perhaps you
should stop focusing on what other people are going to make and instead
focus on what you are going to receive; Your freedom, at least
temporarily," he added.
Under the first option, Mirach said it
can still proceed with the loan structure provided "Sahara publicly
retract its statement with a formal apology for the tarnishment (sic)
that has been caused on Mirach's reputation and its business associates
and members of its investor network."
"Alternatively, Mirach can
proceed with the acquisition of the properties as has been consistently
stated," Sharma wrote describing it as "the quickest solution".
"We can have all documents redrafted in order to structure this as a sale and still meet the Feb 20th, 2015 deadline," he wrote.
If
these options were not acceptable to Roy, Sharma offered to return to
Sahara $2.6 million that was deposited to cover due diligence costs and
"end business matters between us permanently."
Mirach, he wrote, "had offered to return this money 7 business days ago, which you insisted that we keep to cover expenses."
"However,
given the recent public events, if all funds are returned then we will
need a public retraction of the false allegations you have made against
Mirach," Sharma told Roy.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])