Amazon has shown outright contempt for an Indian statutory authority by walking out of the hearing by the Competition Commission of India last week. The hearing was called by the CCI to determine whether the 2019 deal between Amazon and the Future group should be revoked.
“The conduct of Amazon smacks of arrogance. It has shown scant respect to the Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court and to this commission. It could have moved the Delhi High Court for an extension of time or for a suspension of the order, but it perhaps did not find it necessary to do so…. When it failed to get relief from the Supreme Court, it then sought an adjournment from the CCI, and when that was refused, in a display of outright contempt for an Indian statutory authority, this trillion-dollar American company walked out of the hearing,” Future group said through its legal counsel Aggarwal Law Associates in a letter to the CCI.
Earlier this month, Future Retail’s independent directors had written to the CCI to cancel the approval for the 2019 deal between Amazon and Future Coupons on the grounds that Amazon had “concealed facts” at the time of seeking approval for its investment. The deal in which Amazon had invested ₹1,431 crore in Future Coupons Private Limited, is at the centre of the ongoing dispute between Amazon and Future Retail.
On November 19, CCI directed Future Coupons to file written submissions and Amazon was to file its reply by November 23. “Amazon defied CCI’s directions and did not file any reply till the date of hearing on 24-11-2021 and till now,” Future said in a stock exchange filing on Sunday.
