America’s giant e-commerce company Amazon has spent Rs 8,546 crore or $ 1.2 billion on legal activities during 2018-20 to maintain its presence in India. The information comes amid reports that the company is investigating a case of alleged bribery by its legal representatives based in India.
Amazon is currently embroiled in a legal battle over the acquisition of Future Group. Apart from this, she is also facing the investigation of CII (Competition Commission of India). Traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has claimed that Amazon is spending 20 percent of its revenue on lawyers, which raises a question mark.
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According to PTI, Praveen Khandelwal, General Secretary of CAIT, in a letter to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, said that the manner in which Amazon and its other associate firms are spending on lawyers’ fees, it shows. That is how the company is misusing its financial power and giving bribe to the officials of the Government of India.
However, he has demanded a probe from the Central Investigation Agency (CBI) without giving any evidence to support his claim. Apart from this, Khandelwal also said in response to a tweet by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy that CBI investigation has become necessary now as it is alleged that bribes have been given to many government officials.
Khandelwal claimed in a statement that Amazon spent an amount of Rs 8,500 crore during 2018-20 towards payment of fees to legal and professionals. The turnover of the company in these two years was Rs 45,000 crore.
Sources told PTI that six Amazon firms – Amazon India Limited (Holding Company), Amazon Retail India Pvt Ltd, Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd, Amazon Transportation Services Pvt Ltd, Amazon Wholesale (India) Pvt Ltd. and Amazon Internet Services Pvt. Ltd. (AWS) spent Rs 3,420 crore as legal fees in 2018-19, while in 2019-20 the company spent Rs 5,126 crore on legal matters.
Earlier on Monday, a report in Morning Context said that Amazon has launched an investigation into some of its legal representatives for allegedly bribing Indian government officials. An India Today report published on September 21 claimed that Amazon spent around Rs 8,456 crore on legal fees during 2019 and 2020 against revenues of around Rs 42,085 crore.
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