India’s antitrust agency has appointed three new members to oversee the case, including a former government official at the Commerce Department and a former interim compliance officer at WhatsApp, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The new member appointed is Anil Agrawal, a former police official who most recently worked with India’s commerce ministry, working on various entrepreneurial initiatives and the government’s e-commerce network, the Digital Commerce Open Network. Establish. He confirmed the appointment to Reuters but declined to give details.
The other two appointments are that of lawyer Sweta Kakkad, whose LinkedIn profile lists her as WhatsApp’s former interim chief compliance officer. The third appointee is Deepak Anurag, a former official who served as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Kakad and Anurag could not be reached for comment. Sources said the appointment decision will be finalized and taken by the federal government.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) did not respond to queries from Reuters.
The appointments come at a time when the CCI is investigating alleged antitrust violations by several prominent multinational companies, including Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart, Google and liquor giant Pernod Ricard.
The appointment of senior members is crucial to the functioning of the CCI. In May, India appointed Ravneet Kaur as CCI chairman. Kaul has held various government positions over the past two decades, including serving as chairman of the Tourism Development Board of India from 2017 to 2019.
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