New Delhi: US e-commerce giant Amazon Inc plans to start criminal proceedings against its Indian partner Future Retail this week for allowing transfer of assets to Reliance Industries (RIL) despite a legal prohibition, quoting sources Reuters reported on Thursday.
The US e-tailer plans to move New Delhi court and to urge the court to order a probe into the matter, a source has said. The lawsuit could be filed as early as this week.
Amazon and Future Group have been tangled in a legal impasse for over a year that has stalled the Indian firm’s $3.4-billion asset sale to RIL.
Amazon, since 2020 by citing violation of certain contracts, successfully halted Future’s asset sale to rival RIL.
Amazon’s position has been backed by a Singapore arbitrator and Indian courts. However, Future, India’s second-largest retailer, has been denying any wrongdoing.
In a report early this week, Reuters mentioned that RIL had started to take over around 500 of Future’s stores, rebranding them as its own outlets.
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries had previously transferred leases of some of Future’s flagship supermarkets to its name, but allowed Future to continue to operate them. RIL has now begun to take possession of them after Future failed to make rental payments to it, sources have told the news agency.
Future, Amazon, and Reliance did not immediately respond emails seeking comment.
In the criminal proceedings, Amazon will allege that Future concealed information during previous court hearings and allegedly transferred leases of its stores to Reliance, even though a Singapore arbitrator had stopped any transfer or disposal of assets in the ongoing dispute.
“This is going to be Amazon’s last attempt to stop the deal,” said this source.
The plan to start criminal court proceedings would mark a significant escalation in the legal battle between Amazon and its Indian retail rivals, Future Retail and Reliance.
The fight over Future’s assets is seen as a battle for retail supremacy between Reliance and Amazon in India’s booming retail market.
Amazon has long argued, in blocking the Future-Reliance transaction, that Future violated the terms of a 2019 deal in which the US company invested $200 million in part of the Indian company. However, debt-laden Future has previously said Amazon is incorrectly interfering in its retail business.