Last year, a Singapore arbitration issued an injunction against the purchase, claiming that the agreement between Future and Amazon had been broken, preventing Future from selling the assets to firms such as Reliance.
Reliance’s $3.4 billion purchase of Future Retail’s retail assets from Amazon has been deemed “illegally acquired” by Amazon, according to a letter seen by Reuters, and the company has urged the antitrust authority to reverse its clearance.
According to Amazon.com Inc’s letter to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) last week, the deal’s clearance was a “nullity in the eyes of law” since an arbitrator’s ruling was still in effect.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani are in a fight for supremacy in India’s expanding retail industry, which is roughly trillion dollars in value.
More than a billion people’s daily requirements will be met by the company that emerges victorious in the battle for India’s second-largest retailer and Amazon’s former local partner, Future Retail.
All four of these companies did not reply to requests for comment on the CCI investigation.
Arbitrator’s suspension ruling was unlawful according to Future, but Indian courts refused to overrule it.
A big setback for Reliance, the oil-to-telecom behemoth, if regulators follow the previously published letter.
Last year, a Singapore arbitration issued an injunction against the purchase, claiming that the agreement between Future and Amazon had been broken, preventing Future from selling the assets to firms such as Reliance.
Later on, the CCI did not object to the arrangement.
According to Amazon, Future lied to the CCI and sought permission for the acquisition despite the injunction, which is called a “brazen effort to undermine the rule of law.”
Amazon requested a meeting with the CCI so that it could present its case in person.
According to Amazon’s own antitrust filings, the company has been accused of misrepresenting facts and concealing information in order to secure an agreement with Future Group in 2019.
So far, Amazon has been able to leverage the contracts from this agreement to prevent Future from working with Reliance…
