A former Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS, Babatunde Fowler, is currently being interrogated by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC over the N100 billion tax evasion allegations levelled against a tax firm known as Alpha Beta Consulting.
Fowler, a long-time ally of the national leader of the All
Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, and also a close friend of Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo, arrived at the EFCC Lagos office this morning.
Fowler was invited for questioning after a former Managing
Director and Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Beta Consulting, Dapo Apara,
petitioned the antigraft agency, accusing the firm of tax fraud to the tune of
N100bn.
In the petition which was filed in 2018 and signed by his
counsel Adetunji Shoyoye and Associates, 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 the massive money-laundering
scheme, tax evasion, among other vices.” Apara also alleged that the fraud had
been covered by powerful politicians in the state.
The petition 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.”
Fowler's tenure as chairman of EFCC expired in December 2019
and was not renewed by President Buhari.
President Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Garba
Shehu, in an interview granted in December 2019, disclosed that Fowler's tenure
as FIRS Chairman was not renewed over his inability to generate enough revenue
for the country.
It is not yet certain if he will be released or detained after today's interrogation.
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