Alok Sharma, president of Air Sahara, has been designated to speak on behalf of the company on the controversial deal between Sahara and Jet Airways which is now pending before district court in Lucknow for hearing.
Air Sahara had signed a deal on January 18, 2006 with Jet Airways with much fanfare to sell the airline for over $500 million. Jet Airways paid advance money and deposited a security amount in an escrow account for the deal. But just before the deal could be sealed Jet backed out.
"All the requirements to complete the deal have been fulfilled and now the matter is before the district courts," Alok Sharma told rediff.com in an exclusive interview:
Why did the Jet-Air Sahara deal fall?
We think that all the requirements to complete the deal have been fulfilled and now the matter is pending before the district court. I would not like to say anything more on the matter.
Any chance of the deal being revived?
As I said the matter is before the court and let the court decide.
The same thing happened in case of Mittal and Arcelor. The matter went to court and now we have the two sides reaching an agreement. Can't something like that happen in the present case?
True that the case of Mittals and Arcelor had many twists and turns. But our case is different from Mittal, the steel gaint. The two cannot be put into the same category.
In our case, our aircraft -- 27 of them -- were being run under the supervision of the Jet Airways for the last four-and-a-half months. In Mittal's case no such thing had happened.
Is it true that there were differences between Saharashri (Subrata Roy) and his son Seemanto over the deal that led to falling of the deal?
There is no truth in it. The whole thing is out of context and has no basis. There are no family differences.
What according to you are the reasons for Naresh Goyal backing out of the deal?
According to feelers available to us, Jet has a financial resources crunch and we were told to take a cut of 10-20 per cent of the total deal which is over $500 million.
Did you offer more time to Jet?
When we learnt that the clearance from the government about the antecedents had not come, we offered to give them 15 more days. We were sounded out that they were not willing to do that.
Are there any political reasons for not going through the deal?
What political reasons can there be I fail to understand.
There have been news reports saying that the Americans want details of Jet Airways' financial dealings?
We have also heard about it, but we have no details.
Jet said that your maintenance of aircraft was bad. . .
It is Jet Airways that has been supervising maintenance of our fleet for last four-and-a-half months. We have the strong maintenance service providers like Lufthansa Technik and KLM Engineering & Maintenance. Secondly, no aircraft which is not airworthy is allowed to take off. The maintenance standards required to be followed by airlines across the world are very rigid and the records are meticulously kept.
Another allegation is that your losses are far too high. . .
Jet Airways had a complete report with them before signing the deal. These reports are duly printed and audited. It is easy to pick holes after the event.
What was the problem between Air Sahara and Jet Airways pilots?
Our pilots are paid better than the ones who fly Jet. They feared the lower pay scales applicable to Jet pilots would apply to them as well.
When there is a clause of arbitration, why did you rush to court?
Both parties moved the court.
Are you afraid of financial losses if you accept Jet's condition to cut by 10-20 per cent in the deal?
It is not a question of money. It is a question of ethics. We had got two bids: one by Jet and other by Kingfisher, and the latter had quoted $600 million -- $100 million more than Jet -- and still we went for deal with Jet.
