Word: aga
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...state-owned National Stud. For reasons still murky, they refused to sign export licenses, claiming that they were acting under orders from the Agriculture Ministry. But ministry officials denied any knowledge of the affair, says Murty. At about this time the National Stud received a donation from the Aga Khan of three stallions, worth at least $90,000. Says Murty: "I believe the Aga Khan gave the stallions as a favor to the National Stud for stopping my horses from leaving the country." Replies the Aga Khan: "I didn't need the horses. They didn't square with...
Moving behind the scenes, the Aga Khan had made a separate bid of $9.3 million to Boussac's receivers for 144 of the stable's horses, as well as $1.3 million for the Murty stock. Arguing that it was in the interest of Boussac's creditors to see the equine assets sold to the highest bidder, a bankruptcy court in Paris overturned the Murty deal, ordered the American to hand back his 56 horses to the receivers and told him to wait with other creditors for the return of his money...
...than half of what he had paid. But the court did not definitively settle the question of the ownership of the horses. Murty took his case to an even higher court, and has just proffered a bid for the horses that is more than $200,000 higher than the Aga Khan's latest offer, $1.5 million...
...receivers are expected to reject Murty's latest offer. He charges that they have been under pressure all along to favor the Aga Khan's bid, which was well below what a public auction might have realized. The prince got some first-class mares, Murty says, but still was not satisfied. "He wanted to corner the market on the Boussac mares." The Aga Khan's reponse: "I don't see why I should be heaped with insults just because Murty took a bad business risk." Had Murty "made a more reasonable bid in the beginning, none...
French breeders are privately pleased to see Murty defying the Aga Khan and his pervasive influence in the French horse-racing world, but they do not give the American much chance of success. For his part, Murty is preparing to file lawsuits in the U.S. against not only the two French officials but also a representative of the receivers and the Aga Khan himself. Growls Murty: "I've never come across such a goddam swindle in all my life...