Supreme Court rejects plea to attach Sahara’s hotels

New Delhi: The Sahara group on Wednesday welcomed a US court’s order that rejected the plea for attachment of its two hotels in New York and said it was “unfairly” dragged into a private dispute between two parties.

The Supreme Court of the State of New York has rejected a plea by Hong Kong-based JTS Trading Ltd that had sought attachment of Sahara’s prized hotels Plaza and Dream Downtown in the US as part of a lawsuit over a deal that went sour.

“We welcome the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s decision which understood our claims in the pious light of justice and protected us from becoming a victim of unscrupulous litigation which aimed at falsely and unfairly dragging us into a private dispute between two parties who have had a falling out,” a Sahara group spokesperson said in a statement.

Hong Kong-based JTS Trading had approached the court seeking the attachment as part of its $350 million lawsuit against UAE-based Trinity White City Ventures, Sahara group and Swiss banking giant UBS over a deal that went sour.

JTS Trading had filed the suit in June, claiming that it had a deal under a joint venture with Trinity for a deal of the hotels and that it was abruptly excluded when Trinity decided to partner with Sahara. Sahara, however, told that it was being unfairly dragged into a private dispute between JTS and Trinity, as it was a non-party to the dispute.