The immediate past Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr Babatunde Fowler, is now a guest of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja over N100 billion tax fraud committed by a Lagos-based tax company, Alpha Beta Consulting.
Fowler, a former CEO of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, is still being quizzed by the EFCC since Monday morning.
Persecondnews reports that ex-Managing Director and CEO of Alpha Beta Consulting, Mr Dapo Apara, had petitioned the EFCC, accusing the firm of tax fraud to the tune of N100 billion.
In a petition to the EFCC in 2018, Apara stated that Alpha Beta, the firm given exclusive rights to monitor and collect Internally Generated Revenue on behalf of the Lagos Government, “has become an avenue for official corruption of government officials, a conduit pipe for massive money-laundering scheme, tax evasion, among other vices.”
In the petition which was written by his lawyers — Adetunji Shoyoye and Associates — the ex-CEO claimed that the fraud had been covered by powerful politicians in the state.
It reads in part: “Over the years the company has been protected and shielded by some powerful politicians and people in the society which made them to always boast of being untouchable, but our client, feeling the need not to keep quiet again and strengthened by his belief in the fact that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is keen on fighting corruption, which has been the bane of our country, is of the firm belief that it’s time to expose and open the can of worms called Alpha Beta Consulting.”
Confirming the “invitation” of Fowler, EFCC spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said: “Yes, Fowler responded to an invitation this morning. I believe he is still here.”
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