NEWS
Tax Evasion: BIRS Shutdown Ortom’s Company over N93.5m
From Attah Ede, Makurdi
Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) has shutdown Oracle Business Ltd, belonging to former Governor Samuel Ortom for allegedly owing taxes to the tune of N93.5m.The premises of Jagshu and Ubgechi Filling Stations were also shutdown over alleged N2.1m and N2.1m tax defaults respectively in Makurdi.
The tax defaulters operation was carried out at the weekend by the Acting Executive Chairman of Benue Internal Revenue Service, Sunday Odagba in company of the Board’s Secretary/Legal Adviser, Ushahemba DekaaThe action followed an order from a State High Court sitting in Makurdi which mandated the Board to enforce the consequences of the default. The BIRS Legal Adviser, Ushahemba Dekaa told journalists after sealing the premises of Oracle Business Ltd that the company defaulted in its obligations for payment of taxes for six years, hence the clamp down.According to him, the board has been monitoring the tax of the company all these while and the company keep on going back and forth in relation to payment which they failed to do.He said the board equally organized several meetings and engagements with the companies, yet no compliance even when BIRS were using soft approach to ensure that they paid their taxes and levies but all to no avail.On his part, the Group Managing Director of Oracle Business, Chris Omiyi argued that the company got letters of tax evaluation totalling N138m. “We sent our tax consultant to them and the liability dropped to N38million.”Even that amount was spurious but because we are peace-loving we agreed to pay the N38million. But there is still a dispute of N15million which we are to resolve in the office. They fixed a date for the resolution, we got there the people we deal with were not on seat.”The issue is that you said a company owes tax and we have started paying what you said we owe. Whatever that is in dispute we bring it forward and if it is overruled then we pay that which is in dispute because we have paid all others.”In his remark the BIRS Acting Chairman, Sunday Odangba stated Oracle Business and other affected companies failed in their obligations.He explained that the board on several occasions served them demand notices which they did not object and they did not pay.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone C, says it intercepted contrabands with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N510.92 million between July 15th and September 15th, 2024.The zone covers the six states in the South-South geopolitical zone and the five states in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
This is contained in a statement signed by Jerry Attah, Public Relations Officer, NCS, Zone C, and made available to journalists on Wednesday. According to the statement, Comptroller Michael Ugbagu, NCS, Zone C, gave the statistics while showcasing the seized contraband to relevant regulatory agencies at the Government Warehouse in Edo.Ugbagu said that the zone also recovered the sum of N25.57 million from demand notices raised based on some infractions noticed, making a cumulative sum of N536.49 million recorded within the months under review.“The DPV was derived from our seized goods, which include 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without an NAFDAC number.“1,015 sacks of dry donkey meat and skin, 75 jumbo bales of second-hand clothing, 463 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 269 pieces of used pneumatic tires, and 56 cartons of smuggled foreign tomato paste.“More worrisome is the interception of 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without NAFDAC registration numbers.”He noted that the cough syrup with codeine and tramadol without NAFDAC registration numbers, if not intercepted, could have had adverse effects on youths.He added that the items were mostly intercepted along the Ewu-Okada/Benin expressways based on credible intelligence. (NAN)
The Forum of Stakeholders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has decried the deplorable condition of some federal roads in Nigeria. Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the North-Central Chairman of the forum, said this in an interaction with newsmen on Wednesday in Jos. Zazzaga described some of the federal roads as ”death traps”, particularly those within the north-central region.
He said that some of the deplorable roads in the region include Jos-Akwanga, Makurdi-Oturkpo-Otukpa, Makurdi-Ankpa, and Jos-Saminaka. Other roads that needed urgent attention, he said, included Suleja-Minna, Ejule-Otukpa, Ganawuri-Manchok, Lokoja-Abuja, Lapai-Agaie-Bida, Birnin-Gwari-Bokani-Mokwa, Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora. ”Currently, the north-central region has the most deplorable roads and highways in the country. ”These deplorable roads have brought severe hardship on the people and lost lives and property through preventable road traffic crashes. ”We call on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and ensure the rehabilitation of these roads because good roads are vital enablers of development,” he said. The chairman also called on governors of states within the region to reconstruct the dilapidated roads and seek refunds from the federal government. ”Though these are largely federal roads, they are located within states, and the beneficiaries are the people of these states. ”So we call on state governments to reconstruct these roads and seek refunds from the federal government,” he added. (NAN
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 160 pips to 7.087 against the dollar on Wednesday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreigners exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)
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