Aditya Kalra, Jeffrey Dastin and Steve Stecklow

LONDON, (Reuters) – Five U.S. House Judiciary Committee members wrote Sunday to Amazon.com Inc’s chief executive, accusing the top executives of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ.) of lying or misleading Congress about Amazon’s business practices.

It also mentions that the committee will be examining whether a referral to the Department of Justice is necessary for criminal investigations.

The letter was addressed to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. It came after a Reuters investigation that revealed that Amazon had engaged in systematic copying and manipulating search results in India in order to increase sales. This is something that Amazon denies. Jassy, a longtime Amazon executive, succeeded Bezos in July.

The letter states that “credible reporting” in the Reuters story and recent articles in several other news outlets “directly contradicts the sworn testimony and representations of Amazon’s top executives – including former CEO Jeffrey Bezos.”

“At the very least, this report confirms that Amazon’s representatives misled Committee. It reveals that the Amazon representatives may have misled Congress, possibly in violation of federal criminal laws,” it states. Reuters examined a copy.

Amazon responded with a statement saying that “Amazon executives and Amazon did not mislead committee” and adding: “Amazon has denied the allegations and attempted to rectify the records regarding the incorrect media articles.”

They added, “As you have already stated, we have an intern policy, which is beyond any other retailer’s policy we are aware of that prohibits using individual seller data for the development of Amazon private label products. Any allegations of violation are investigated and appropriate actions taken.

The House Judiciary Committee investigates digital competition. It has examined how Amazon collects seller data on its platform and whether Amazon unfairly favors their products.

Bezos testified in sworn testimony to the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee that Amazon prohibits employees from using information on sellers for its private-label product lines. Amazon’s associate counsel Nate Sutton testified at another hearing in 2019. He said that Amazon doesn’t use this data to make its own brand products, or to alter its search results for their benefit.

Sutton was asked during the hearing if Amazon modifies algorithms in order to direct customers towards its products. He replied, “The algorithms can be optimized to predict the customer’s desire to purchase regardless of which seller.”

Jassy has “one last opportunity” to submit evidence in support of the previous statements and testimony. The letter also states that it is illegal for Jassy to make materially false statements, hide a material fact or provide false documentation as a response to congressional investigations.

It allows the CEO to reply sworn to this question by Nov. 1, to explain “how Amazon uses nonpublic individual seller data for its own product development and marketing” as well as how Amazon’s search results favor these products.

It requests copies of all documents mentioned by Reuters in its Oct. 13 investigation.

The letter says, “We encourage you to use this opportunity to rectify the record, provide the Committee with accurate, sworn responses to this question as we examine whether it is appropriate to refer this matter to Department of Justice for criminal investigations.”

The Reuters probe was based on thousands of pages of internal Amazon documents – including emails, strategy papers and business plans. They showed that, at least in India, Amazon had a formal, clandestine policy of manipulating search results to favor Amazon’s own products, as well as copying other sellers’ goods – and that at least two senior company executives had reviewed it.

Amazon responded to the Reuters report by saying, “We believe that these claims are factually inaccurate and unsubstantiated.” However, the company didn’t elaborate. According to the company, search results are not favored by private brands.

In their letter, lawmakers also reference other stories from the Markup and Wall Street Journal as well as the Capitol Forum on Amazon’s use of data and private-brand products.

Washington and Big Tech are aggravated by the sharp language of this letter. Amazon and other companies are included. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ)), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ) (NASDAQ) (Alphabet (NASDAQ) Inc.’s Google are under increased scrutiny in Washington and Europe. These concerns stem from regulators, lawmakers, and consumer group worries that these companies have too much power, engage in unfair practices that harm other businesses, as well as the concern that they have too many employees.

The lawmakers’ letter was signed by a bipartisan group, and included the judiciary committee’s chairman, Democrat Jerrold Nadler, and four members of the antitrust subcommittee – its chair, Democrat David Cicilline, vice chair Pramila Jayapal and Republicans Ken Buck and Matt Gaetz.

U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren called for Amazon’s dissolution on Wednesday following the publication by Reuters. India: A coalition representing brick-and mortar retailers from millions demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi take steps against Amazon.