ROME, July 24 -- Italian financial police announced Wednesday that they have seized 121 million euros (131.1 million U.S. dollars) from the Italian operations of retail giant Amazon for alleged tax evasion and worker exploitation.

A spokesman for the Italian financial authorities told Xinhua Wednesday that the seizure -- the largest-ever of its kind in Italy -- was connected to the methods the retailer used to pay outsourced labor, which both reduced the company's tax payments and allowed it to pay workers below the going rates.

"The company illegally employed mechanisms for non-existent operations that allowed fraudulent tax bills and worker exploitation," the official said.

For its part, Amazon sent a statement to reporters saying, "We comply with all applicable laws and regulations in every country where we operate and we demand that companies that work with us do the same." It did not elaborate further.

Amazon has had several legal and financial problems in Italy in recent years. Among them are 10 million euros in fines from the country's antitrust regulator for limiting consumer choice on its website in April. (1 euro = 1.08 U.S. dollar)

  - Xinhua