‘Amazon’s statements to CCI, courts contradictory’

NEW DELHI: Independent directors at Big Bazaar parent — Future Retail (FRL) — have fired a fresh salvo at Amazon by alleging that the representations made by Amazon in the application to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for approval of its Future Coupons (FCPL) transactions are “completely opposite” and contradictory to the etailer’s internal correspondences and notes submitted to the courts.
In the letter sent to CCI on Sunday, which TOI has reviewed, the directors quoted the contents from a letter by Amazon’s legal counsel in India to its founder Jeff Bezos, where it was mentioned that the etailer had initially planned to invest in FCPL through a foreign portfolio investment route.
But after the government tweaked the foreign direct investment regulations for online marketplaces via Press Note 2 in 2018, “the investment structure was changed to Amazon investing in a twin-entity investment structure i.e. Amazon would invest in FCPL and FCPL will acquire 9.82% of FRL.”