Mirach says Sahara deliberately blocking sale of assets

Florida-based Mirach Capital Group, which is in the eye of a storm following allegations of forgery and fraud, today alleged the Sahara group was trying to scuttle the deal as it did not want to lose its overseas assets. 

Mirach, which was floated only weeks ago to facilitate a structured deal between unnamed investors and Sahara, alleged that members of the Sahara Group violated the exclusivity agreement.

''We learned of this after representatives of the Sahara Group approached members of Mirach's syndicate. Following Mirach's multiple notices to Sahara that they were in breach of contract, Sahara began to take an adversarial position against Mirach, and began to attempt to discredit and smear Mirach's reputation,'' the group said in a statement responding to a questionnaire sent by Business Standard on Thursday.

A media report on Thursday (Subrata Roy's key man using bogus account to raise money?) said that Mirach Capital, led by San Jose, California resident Saransh Sharma, had provided misleading bank documents to Sahara about its funding. Bank of America – projected as the banker for the $1 billion deal between the two sides.

Following BoA's denial of any role in the deal, Sahara group in a late night press release alleged that it felt cheated by Mirach and its officers and that it ''would not spare them'', even as it described Mirach's alleged actions ''inhuman''.

The events have indefinitely prolonged Roy's stay in Tihar Jail in New Delhi, where he has been held since March 2014 after his group entities failed to comply with the Indian Supreme Court's order directing the refund of Rs24,029 crore collected illegally from 29.6 million investors, and he himself failed to appear before the court despite multiple summons.

As a condition for bail, the Supreme Court court has insisted that the conglomerate pay close to Rs10,000 crore – the highest-ever bail amount ever set by an Indian court - which the Securities and Exchange Board of India said was raised from investors in violation of laws.

Throwing new light on Roy's bail process, which the Supreme Court has sought to assist by providing special negotiation facilities inside the jail complex, Mirach said, ''In spite of the court mandates to raise bail, Sahara has always been and continues to be an unwilling seller of these assets. They have thus repeatedly acted to undermine the transaction, and thereby waste(d) the time of our investors, SEBI, and the Honourable Supreme Court of India. The dangerous allegations made by Sahara are indicative of a direct intent to destabilize a deal structure that, given its high rate of return, would benefit Mirach and its investors.''

The group said Sahara has undertaken the latest act upon recognising its inability to make the first interest payment on the loan, which would put it in danger of losing its assets at a discounted rate through default.

''Any such claims of Sahara being defrauded by Mirach are untrue and are being presented in an effort to unravel the deal and shelter Subrata Roy,'' Mirach said in its statement.

''Proof of Mirach's financial capabilities were previously verified directly with Sahara's lawyers, and a simple meta data test will show no documents have been forged. Upon agreement of Sahara with support from the Supreme Court to a sale of the assets, Mirach stands ready to publicly disclose the identity of our investors who have historically earmarked funds for this transaction to which Mirach has had access,'' it added.