The Supreme Court on Friday set the terms for Sahara to assist the release of Subrata Roy, who has been in jail for more than a year now. As per the conditions, Sahara must repay the entire $5.7 billion the court says it owes investors in illegal bonds within the next 18 months.
This amount includes the $1.6 billion in bail the court had set for the release of Subrata Roy, who was put behind bars in March last year after Sahara failed to comply with an earlier court order to refund money it had raised from millions of small investors by selling them the bonds.
The court says the refund now amounts to about 360 billion rupees ($5.7 billion). Sahara has previously said it had repaid 95 percent of the amount due to the investors, which has not been accepted by the court.
Asked about the court order, a Sahara lawyer told reporters: “We will seek to honour the various time schedule given by the court.”
The court ordered Sahara, which has assets ranging from the Plaza hotel in New York to a Formula One team, to deposit the money in nine instalments.
The first tranche must be paid on the date of Roy’s release, it added, and if Sahara fails to deposit three instalments Roy will go back to prison.
It, however, remains unclear when Roy will be released as he has yet to be officially charged.