FISCAL DAMAGES: ADM PLAYS WITH THE JUDGMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AT THE EXPENSES OF THE ITALIAN CITIZENS.

ABUSE OF LAW: AN EXTRAORDINARY MEETING OF THE BOARD STANLEY IS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY IN LIVERPOOL.

Liverpool, 30/04/2018 – From this morning at 9.30 am, English time, an extraordinary meeting of the Stanley Board (Board of Directors) is in progress. On the agenda the resolution of extraordinary measures to fight the decision of ADM to not comply with the ruling 27/2018 of the Constitutional Court, which stated the constitutional illegitimacy of the betting tax to the CTD Stanley for periods prior to 2011.

In fact, the administration officials argue in the hearings before the CTPs (Provincial Tax Commissions) that the judgment of the Constitutional Court should be interpreted as the illegitimacy of the principal obligation of the CTD would not imply the failure of the joint liability of the bookmaker. An unfounded thesis that is wiped away by the decisions of the Tax Courts. But in the meantime, how many unnecessary expenses will have to be faced by the Italian administrations, and then ultimately by the citizens, in a continuous battle against Stanley, for the work of the administration officials who never take responsibility for their actions?

Stanley intends to activate all the tools that the Justice allows to request, for itself and for its CTDs, the compensation for the unjust damage it is suffering and in order to make those officials responsible in front of the Court of Accounts for damages caused to the Treasury.

While the (ADM) Monopoly of State does not comply with the declaration of unconstitutionality of the regulations subject to the decision of the Constitutional Court, the provincial and regional Tax Courts accept the appeals of Stanley by applying instead the sentence of the Constitutional Court. The Tax Courts, in fact, annul the tax assessment challenged by Stanley and the CTDs related to the betting tax, even convicting Administration to refund the costs of the proceedings.

Stanley and its CTDs, after the judgment of the Constitutional Court, won the appeals before the Regional Tax Commission of Lazio and the Provincial Tax Commissions of Rome, Bologna, Bari, Latina, and Padua.

On the other hand, more and more Tax Courts have shown considerable interest in Stanley’s prospect of the issue referred to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling, which could result in a reference to the Court of Justice. A progression that could have disruptive effects for the Administration within two years, above all because it would put the final word on years of hostility against an operator against whom the European Court’s judgment has always been violated. The tax claim, in a context in which Stanley already pays the betting tax in another jurisdiction, is the instrument with – in addition to the criminal and administrative areas of which justice has long been done, it is perpetuated and confirmed discrimination towards Stanley.

Now, it is natural to ask: the obstinacy of top officials and in any case, those responsible for ADM in ignoring the ruling of the Constitutional Court, or delaying the annulment of pre-2011 assessment notices, is not a macroscopic case of abnormal use of power, in continuity with the policy perpetrated for years?

In this regard, sources of Stanley’s internal legal department recall how, according to the Italian apical administrative jurisprudence, it is also applicable to P.A. – whose conduct must always be «conforms to fairness and good faith» – the «general prohibition of abuse of any subjective position, which, pursuant to art. 2 of the Constitution and of the art. 1175 of the Civil Code, permeate the substantial conduct on a par with the procedural practices of exercising the right; the prohibition of abuse of the law also applies in a procedural key, so that the prohibition of abuse of the law also becomes prohibition of abuse of the process, understood as improper exercise, on the functional and modal level, of the discretionary power of the party to choose the most convenient strategies of defence «(Cons. State Section IV, Sent., 02-03-2012, No. 1209).

John Whittaker, Chairman, who was called to lead Stanley Board’s extraordinary meeting this morning, in commenting on the documentation received from the internal legal office in support of the Board’s decisions currently under discussion, said: «ADM, especially in Sicily, makes checks being accompanied by the police, who are then forced to seize and close the CTD that, in most cases, then gets reopened by the judiciary. All of this is deplorable. Of course, the problem is not the checks; ADM has every right to do them. «And it is here to add that in these cases Stanley urges officials to limit themselves to report to the public prosecutor of the crime but remains unheard. In fact, the official duty of officials can well be exercised with the communication of the crime reported to the Prosecutor, since the seizure is not mandatory. But continues John Whittaker: «Is it not perhaps, once again, an abnormal, inefficient and non-impartial use of power by the ADM? How come the law enforcement agencies that normally limit themselves to reporting the CTD’s to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, where they consider it necessary, instead proceed with the seizure when ADM is also present at the checks? The Stanley Board is called today, on the basis of the documentary evidence gathered, to deliberate appropriate initiatives with the Civil and Accounting Magistrates, for the compensation of damage and the restoration of legality ».