An Indian appeals court on Monday rejected Amazon’s appeal to an antitrust suspension of its $200 million investment deal with Future Group, says that the US company withheld information when seeking approval in 2019.
India’s antitrust authority issued a suspension in December, saying Amazon suppress the actual investment coverage of 2019 and make false and inaccurate statements. Amazon has protested the decision, arguing that it did not withhold information.
Rejecting Amazon’s plea on Monday, a panel of two judges in an Indian court said it held Amazon responsible “for failing to provide relevant information about this combination”.
“(The) Court fully agrees” with the antitrust agency’s position on the suspension of the 2019 deal, it added.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Indian court also upheld the penalty of around Rs. 203 crore was imposed on Amazon by the antitrust authority in December, requiring it to be sent within 45 days.
After the Amazon-Future 2019 agreement, there has been a series of legal disputes. The US company cited the terms of the 2019 settlement when it took legal action a year later to block Of the future try to sell property to Reliance Industriesan Amazon rival in India, for $3.4 billion (about Rs 26,549).
Reliance stopped negotiating the deal with Future in April of this year as legal battles dragged on and Future failed to receive regulatory approvals. Future’s main retail arm, Future Retail, is currently facing bankruptcy proceedings.
However, Amazon still has pending legal challenges against Future Group for the damages it is claiming in connection with Future’s negotiations with Reliance.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
