Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called for an overhaul of the international tax system in order to tackle the scourge of Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) and related vices, which is negatively impacting progress in developing countries especially in Africa.

The Vice President made the call on Monday at the virtual press launch of a publication by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the impact of illicit financial flows (IFFs) on African Development.

According to Prof. Osinbajo, “the enormity of efforts required to tackle illicit financial flows is evident in the many dimensions the scourge presents itself. It manifests through harmful tax policies and practices, abusive transfer pricing, trade mis-pricing and mis-invoicing illegal exploitation of natural resources as well as official corruption, and organized crimes. We have to pay particular attention to efforts to reform the international tax system.”

Continuing on the need for an effective reform of the system, the Vice President said “…the commercial form of illicit financial flows especially tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance accounts for up to 65% of illicit financial flows.

“This means that we must pay particular attention to these issues which are aided by things such as tax treaties, tax havens, and financial secrecy jurisdictions and indeed tax competition which leads to a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of tax rates amongst developing countries.”

Calling for an urgent global action, the Vice President said leaders of destination countries of illicit funds and their proceeds must demonstrate the will to tackle the menace.

He said “another important issue that we must pay attention to is the identification and return of proceeds of illicit financial flows back to countries of origin as an effective deterrent to the scourge of illicit financial flows. Certainly, exposing those involved in practices that facilitate illicit financial flows, and retrieving proceeds of illicit funds are efficacious in deterring perpetrators, rebuilding the confidence of the citizenry, and compensating for the damage caused by such crimes.

“I encourage all leaders, whose countries are considered absolute outliers for illicit financial flows, to join forces and take the responsibility of combating the scourge by insisting on the repatriation of illicit funds and their proceeds.

“Let me also avail myself of this opportunity to call on leaders, whose countries are the main destinations for illicit financial flows, to take concrete steps to prevent and stop the receipt of illicit funds into their countries, and to assist in freezing, seizing, and returning such funds and its proceeds already in their countries”.

On the way forward, the Vice President called for cooperation and synergy among “the private sector, civil society, trade unions and professional groups to work with governments in tackling illicit financial flows.”

His words: “The private sector must support our efforts by adhering to international best practices in their operations and by ensuring that their tax and trade practices comply with local laws while professional bodies, including those for lawyers, accountants, auditors, and bankers must observe ethical professional standards and hold their members to account if they abet tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.”

Read more: https://www.chronicle.ng/2020/09/tax-reform-curb-money-laundering-osinbajo/

how many of government officials have been paying their taxes diligently?
Nigerians have a way onto always manipulate system.
the lawmakers are the lawbreaker,the law enforcement agents are the main constitutional criminals.what a shithole country.

This can be achieved if the private sector, civil society, trade unions and professional groups to work with governments in tackling illicit financial flows.

This can be achieved if the private sector, Work hand in hand with the Federal Government.