Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday accused the two companies of “fraud” after industrialist Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group took over some Future Group stores a few days ago and said legal action could be taken against them.
It may be noted that the leases of Future Group stores which were taken over by Reliance Group had lapsed due to non-payment of rent.
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Reliance Retail Ventures, the retail arm of Reliance Industries Limited, had agreed to a deal to acquire Future Group’s retail and logistics business for Rs 24,713 crore in August 2020, but Future Group partner Amazon, citing breach of certain contracts Knocked the door of the court due to which the deal could not be completed.
Reliance Retail had terminated the sub-lease of 947 stores it had earlier taken over to Future Retail. Last month, Reliance Retail had taken over such stores whose rents the Future Group was unable to pay. These stores were leased to the Future Group for operations. Amazon has given an advertisement in the newspapers under the name ‘Public Notice’, which states that these activities have been carried out in India in a fraudulent manner.
It accused Future Retail Ltd and its promoters of misrepresenting before the Supreme Court that the retail assets would remain with Future Retail (FRL) until the Reliance deal is approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). “These false statements were made intentionally as FRL was on the verge of allowing the alleged handover of retail assets to the Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani (MDA) group,” Amazon said.