Amazon has said the transfer by hundreds of Future Retail Ltd’s (FRL) stores by the retailer to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has been conducted in a “clandestine manner” and said they are acts against the orders of Indian courts and a Singapore emergency arbitrator that had restrained FRL from alienating or parting with its assets.
“The actions have been done in a clandestine manner by playing a fraud on the constitutional court of India, the arbitral tribunal and Indian statutory authorities/agencies,” Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC said in public notice placed in newspapers on Tuesday.
In the notice Amazon warned any such takeover of FRL’s assets would be in violation of the October 2020 emergency order by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) that had stayed the proposed Rs 25,000 deal to sell Future Group’s assets to Reliance Retail.
“Amazon hereby puts all persons concerned to notice that any attempt by FRL and its promoters to transfer/dispose/alienate any of its retail assets is in violation of binding orders of the arbitral tribunal which operate as orders of an Indian court and any party assisting or cooperating in such fraudulent and contumacious actions will be liable for civil and criminal consequences under law,” the Tuesday notice in newspapers said.
The notice comes on a day when the Supreme Court will be hearing in a case pertaining to the Future Group-Amazon dispute. On Tuesday, lawyers from both Amazon and Future Group are expected to update the apex court on an out-of-court settlement initiative that both the groups agreed to during a hearing earlier this month.
We will update comments from FRL and from Reliance as soon we get them.
Last week, FRL in a filing to the stock exchanges said that it has received lease termination notices of about 850 from RIL.
Reliance Projects & Property Management Services last month took over the control of around 400 outlets of the Future Group flagship for alleged non-payment of rent.
People in the know said Reliance Projects, a part of Reliance Industries, had earlier bailed out hundreds of Future Group’s stores by paying outstanding rents to landlords and then transferred the lease of properties in its name. These properties were then sub-leased to the Future Group and Reliance resorted to taking over the stores after the rents were not paid for months, they said.
