Subrata took Lalit Modi’s help to sell offshore hotels, SC told

Legal Correspondent

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New Delhi, August 18

The Supreme Court was today informed that Sahara group chief Subrata Roy had sought the help of controversial Lalit Modi to sell the group’s three premium hotels in London and New York for paying the bail amount of Rs 10,000 crore to come out of the Tihar Jail here.

One of the prospective buyers of the three hotels — Grosvenor House in London and New York Plaza and Dream New York Hotels – gave this information to a Bench headed by Justice TS Thakur.

The company, Madison Capitals, said it had approached Modi on the advice of the Sahara group. Modi had agreed to negotiate the sale if the company was willing to pay a specific amount as the minimum price for the hotels, it said.

Modi, the deposed CEO of the Indian Premier League (IPL), is at the centre of a raging political controversy for allegedly utilising his links with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundara Raje in the past to take favours despite the fact that he was under scanner for foreign exchange violations.

Appearing for Roy, in jail since March 4 last year, senior counsel Kapil Sibal, however, said another firm, Reuben Brothers, had taken the loan component on the three hotels from Bank of China, the original lenders. Sahara was negotiating with this company for raising funds following this development, he said.

At this, the Bench asked Sahara to disclose all details of the proposed deal to enable the court to consider and approve the deal.

Roy also sought the court’s permission to sell more real estate assets within the country, but the Bench said it would not order “blanket lifting” of the ban and asked the group to specify the properties it intended to sell. The group had failed to sell many of the properties despite the permission granted by court, the Bench noted.

Roy and other Sahara directors have been sent to jail for their failure to refund to the investors Rs 25,000 crore the group had raised through debentures, declared illegal by market regulator SEBI subsequently.

The case would come up for next hearing on September 14.