ROME: The shares of Amaya Inc. (AYA) went down eight percent, as Italy’s financial police Guardia di Finanza (GDF) mentioned PokerStars being involved in a tax fraud investigation.
Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt has seen its stocks fall from $31.85 to $29.30 a share, after hitting a day’s low of $28.29.
Although the markets have been extremely rapid in reacting to the news, PokerStars position in the investigation is far from clear as Italy’s GDF has yet to prove any wrongdoings of the Halfords Media Italy S.r.l., a company that PokerStars uses for marketing activities in Italy.
According to Italy’s financial police, the Halfords Media Italy “eroded [its] tax base by decreasing the value of the services rendered to PokerStars. In this way, [the company] could shift the taxation of the income produced in Italy to Malta and the Isle of Man.”
Authorities believe that by using this technique which is known as “transfer pricing” Halfords Media Italy managed to avoid the Italian taxation on profits for over €300 million.
