Amazon sues Enforcement Directorate, seeking to quash Future Deal investigation
New Delhi:
Amazon.com Inc. is taking the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to court, seeking to quash an investigation into one of its 2019 deals, a court filing seen by Reuters shows.
The ED has been probing Amazon’s $200 million investment in Future Group for months for suspected violations of foreign investment laws.
The investment is at the center of a protracted legal battle, as Amazon has used the terms of that deal – and cited breaches of contract by Future – to block a $3.4 billion sale of the Indian company’s retail assets to a rival.
In an 816-page filing seen by Reuters, Amazon called the investigation a “phishing and roving” investigation, adding that the ED had sought privileged legal advice and opinion from Amazon and other information not linked to the Future Group deal.
The US e-commerce giant, in its filing in the Delhi High Court on December 21, said the ED had summoned several Amazon executives, including its India chief, in recent weeks and that the investigation had led to “unnecessary harassment”.
“The directives by the ED on disclosure of legally privileged documents and litigation privilege information are defamatory of principles,” Amazon said in the filing, which is not public.
“Probe is a fishing-and-roaming exercise.”
Amazon and ED, which have not made the details of their investigation public, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The matter is likely to come up for hearing on Thursday.
The filing is the latest twist in a long-running dispute between Amazon and Future. Although the Competition Commission of India last week postponed its 2019 deal saying Amazon had suppressed information while seeking approval for it, the ED probe is independent of it.
The dispute centers around three commercial agreements signed between Future and Amazon entities, which a Singapore arbitration panel – also hearing the dispute – has said should be read together when reviewing the transaction.
Opposing future commercial agreements would mean that the deal violated Indian law.
Amazon’s court filing had an ED notice dated February 19 seeking details of its investment in Future, including copies of agreements, bank account details and other related internal communications.
It also showed that the ED is conducting a comprehensive investigation, and had sought details of large sellers on Amazon’s e-commerce website in India, including sales numbers for those who account for 5 per cent of total sales on Amazon.in. More than.
The notice came after a Reuters investigation in February found that Amazon helped a small number of sellers on its Indian platform prosper, by offering them discounted fees and using them to circumvent foreign investment laws.
Amazon said at the time it was confident it complied with the rules and that it “does not give preferential treatment to any seller on its market.”
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