It was a shocking revelation at the
ongoing budget defence in the Senate, Friday, as Chairman of the Independent
Corrupt Practices and other related offences
Commission, ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta,
disclosed that 50 of the 156 major companies doing contracts with the Federal
Ministry of Works were allegedly operating with forged tax certificates.
Apart from that, the ICPC boss also
told the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and
Anti-Corruption that his agency had discovered about 45,000 ghost workers in
the Federal Ministry of Finance, and had succeeded in saving N100 billion for
the Federal Government.
Nta further said his agency had
closed down over 26 illegal degree awarding institutions in the country and was
currently prosecuting their proprietors, adding that because of the robust
relationship the anti-graft agency has with the Federal Inland Revenue Service,
FIRS, some of the staff of the service and that of the Bureau for Public
Procurement that were not doing the right thing had been jailed.
According to him, the management of
all the 56 firms allegedly involved in forged tax certificates were currently
being prosecuted for not paying the correct taxes to the Federal Government.
The ICPC boss, who described the
development as worrisome, said the affected firms had denied tertiary
institutions across the country their appropriate funding since the Tertiary
Education Funds are monies paid in form of taxes by companies.
He said: “We have gone into direct
intervention with Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS and discovered that most
of the big companies that do business for government have not been paying
correct taxes or have been using forged documents.
Forged tax certificates
“I can give you clear examples. Of
156 companies that did business with the Federal Ministry of Works, over 50 had
forged tax certificates and we are prosecuting them, and that has now led to a
total change in respect of persons who want to get involved in government
business.
“You know that TEDFUND depends on
monies that come from companies. So if you don’t pay company taxes, TEDFUND
does not get the money they should get to improve the education sector and that
is why we targeted taxation to help improve funding of these other sectors of
the economy.
“Of course, you know what we have
done in the Ministry of Finance, on the issue of ghost workers, where over
45,000 ghost workers were discovered, that has saved over a N100 billion.
“We have a robust relationship with
the Federal Inland Revenue Service. We have actually jailed some of their staff
that are not doing the right thing and of course we now work hand in hand with
the Bureau for Public Procurement.
“So if anyone provides false
statistics through bidding exercise they will refer you to us and that has now
started cleaning out that sector.”
Female undergrad victimized for 12
yrs
Nta also told the committee that
ICPC had saved a female undergraduate of the Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma who
was allegedly victimized by some of her lecturers for 12 years on campus
because she refused to give in to their sexual overtures.
He said: “Now, there is a student at
the University of Nigeria Nsukka, who spent eight years without graduation and
was being victimized, we moved in, and through us he graduated.
“We moved into Ambrose Ali University.
A girl stayed there for 12 years on the basis of sexual harassment, she has
graduated and we are working on prosecuting all the officials involved.”
He said the ICPC had ensured the
release of N25 billion for projects in the Universities, Polytechnics and
Colleges of Education through TEDFUND and that the money was released to the
deserving institutions that had been tied up in their system.
On fight against corruption
Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs,
Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti Corruption, Senator Victor Lar, commended
the agency for its efforts at ensuring sanity, stressing that the current
administration had done well in fighting corruption because of the
steadfastness and doggedness of the ICPC and its sister agencies.
Lar had earlier stated at the budget
defence of N542,199,776 for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,
that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan had fought corruption
more than any other administration in the country.
To buttress his point, the Plateau
South Senator said under President Jonathan-led administration, EFCC has
secured 136 convictions, an indication that the government has secured more
convictions against corrupt officials and economic saboteurs.
He said that people criticized the
present government of not doing enough to fight corruption because Nigerians
were impatient, adding that the difference between the present administration
and the previous ones was that the present follows due process.
He said: “Let me shock you by boldly
asserting and declaring that contrary to the general impression being held in
certain quarters, the Jonathan Goodluck administration has fought corruption
more than any other administration. Under this administration, the various
agencies have secured more convictions against corrupt officials and economic
saboteurs.
“Indeed over 600 convictions were
cumulatively secured by EFCC, ICPC with that of the NDLEA (National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency) destroying a regional record of hard drugs.
“In fact, the discovery and
destruction of three methamphetamine making factories in Lagos has continued to
confound the international community.”
50 Fed Ministry of Works’ contracting firms forge tax certificates —ICPC
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Monday, March 02, 2015
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