Amazon moves Delhi High Court seeking attachment of Future Retail's assets

Amazon has filed a fresh petition in the Delhi High Court seeking the attachment of the assets of Future Retail and its directors. It has also appealed to the court to pass a “detention in civil prison” order against key executives of the Indian retail company.

Amazon had prayed for a restraining injunction against the ₹25,000-crore Future Retail and Reliance Industries deal till the time an order is passed. It has further sought damages. Amazon said in its petition that Future had violated the award given by the arbitration tribunal of Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC)

The e-commerce giant has filed the petition under section 17 (2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. “The petitioner is constrained to file the petition owing to the deliberate and wilful violation of the order dated October 25, 2020 passed under Section 17 (1) or the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 by the arbitration tribunal of SIAC.” A copy of the petition was reviewed by BusinessLine.

Amazon has made a 14-point prayer. It has requested an injunction against FRL and Reliance seeking permissions from authorities to move ahead with the deal, make transfer or dispose any assets or rights, share transfer etc. It has also asked FRL and Reliance to not rely upon the conditional nod given by SEBI.

Also read: SEBI nod for Future-Reliance deal subject to court proceedings: Amazon

“Despite legal remedies, FRL has gone ahead and written letters to SEBI. SEBI, too, has given its conditional nod to the deal. Thus, Amazon is left with no option but to go ahead with the traditional means of seeking legal remedies and filing an appeal to implement the EA order in India.”

Justice Gupta’s hadn’t prohibited Amazon from writing letters to the statutory authorities, however, according to Amazon, it did not receive the remedies it was hoping to get from the courts on the same.

Also read: Future Retail-RIL deal: Amazon requests SEBI not to issue no-objection certificate

This comes even as a three-member tribunal has been constituted at SIAC. The Tribunal is set to hear the case as early as next week.