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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta (976 Views)
Dapo Apara: Stop Tinubu From Controlling Alpha Beta - Ex-MD Begs Court / Remove Magu - Malami Writes Buhari. Accuses EFCC Boss Of Money Diversion / Fayose Write EFCC Of His Desire To Make Himself Available To The Commission (2) (3) (4)
N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nobody: 2:58am On Jan 26, 2019 |
The immediate past Managing Director of Alpha Beta Consulting, Mr Tunde Apara, has said that seven months after writing a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the commission has yet to invite him to shed light on his allegations. In an exclusive interview with Saturday PUNCH, Apara, who is out of the country, said, “I have not been contacted by the EFCC. The commission has ignored my petition. I am available to defend my petition.” When asked why the EFCC had not contacted him, he said, “Maybe you can check with the EFCC why they have not invited me to defend my petition.” Apara had in June last year written a petition to the EFCC accusing Alpha Beta Consulting of tax evasion and fraud to the tune of over N100bn. Alpha Beta, which has exclusive rights to collect funds on behalf of Lagos State, is believed to be partly owned by a former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, who is also the campaign manager of President Muhammadu Buhari. There had been allegations that the EFCC was refusing to take action on the petition because it was written against Buhari’s man. Media Adviser to Tinubu, Mr Tunde Rahman, had during the week dared Apara, who wrote a petition against the company, to return to Nigeria to defend the petition. In an opinion article titled, ‘Momodu and his obscene obsession’, Tinubu’s spokesman did not deny allegations that the former governor owned a stake in Alpha Beta. He, however, said the petition against the company had been rubbished and hinted that a counter-petition had been written. Rahman said, “The person who filed the petition has absconded from Nigeria. That person fled after having bilked Alpha-Beta. Let that person return to Nigeria to see which petition has more validity.” He said Alpha Beta had done wonderfully well and had helped Lagos to become the fifth largest economy in Africa. Tinubu’s aide added, “Lest we forget, it was the ingenuity of Tinubu’s government that brought Alpha Beta. Because of this innovation, the Internally Generated Revenue of Lagos moved from N600m in 1999 to over N25bn monthly today. “Powered by this increase in IGR, Lagos economy today is ranked fifth in Africa and social services in the state have improved across the board. Alpha Beta also has been invited by many states and other countries to do for them what was done for Lagos.” Speaking with our correspondent on Friday, the Spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade, denied allegations that the commission had not touched the petition. Orilade called on the petitioner to send a reminder to the EFCC and he would be duly updated on the work the anti-graft agency had done on the petition thus far. He said, “Let the petitioner send a reminder and ask questions. He will be contacted. He should ask why his petition has not been attended to and he will be given an update. If there is a discreet investigation going on, he will be told.” Alpha Beta Consulting has come under intense criticism from opposition politicians and members of the civil society. Investigations by The PUNCH showed that the firm, which plays the same role as Remita at the federal level, was inaugurated in 2000. The consultancy firm was awarded a contract by the Tinubu-led government after a recommendation by a committee comprising the then Attorney-General, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (now the Vice-President); Mr Wale Edun, the then commissioner for finance; and a former commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Yemi Cardoso. The firm receives about 10 per cent commission on the funds collected on behalf of Lagos State every month. The commission, however, varies based on the total amount of money it is able to remit to the state coffers. It was also learnt that the contract between Alpha Beta and the state government ought to be subject to renewal yearly. Bids from other companies are expected to be made to make room for competition. However, the bidding process is said to be opaque as Alpha Beta’s contract has been renewed every year for nearly 19 years. A search of the company’s profile at the Corporate Affairs Commission revealed that it was registered as Alpha Beta Consulting Limited with Registration Number 378848 on April 26, 2000. At the time of incorporation, the share capital was N1m. The shareholders were: Mr. Ogunmola Olumide (N500, 000); Dapo Apara, who wrote the petition to the EFCC (N300,000); Gboyega Oyetola, now the governor of Osun State (N100,000); Adeyemi Lateef (N50,000); and Iyiola Olalekan (N50,000). Although Tinubu has been constantly mentioned as one of the owners of the company, his name has never appeared on the company’s CAC documents. Attempts to get a response from the Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr Kehinde Bamigbetan, proved abortive as he neither responded to calls nor a text message. https://punchng.com/alpha-beta-ex-md-accuses-efcc-of-ignoring-petition-against-alpha-beta/ |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nobody: 3:00am On Jan 26, 2019 |
Tinubu is untouchable under the lifeless tyrant Buhari 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Racoon(m): 3:08am On Jan 26, 2019 |
EFCC will never fight a corruption they dont have an interest in.Oshiomole have said the APC forgives and accepts any looted of our commonwealth that crosses over to its fold. |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by BuhariAdvocate: 3:15am On Jan 26, 2019 |
Okay come back from your hidden place to defend your letter if you sure. |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by abitex577(m): 3:33am On Jan 26, 2019 |
We know the antics |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nbote(m): 3:41am On Jan 26, 2019 |
Lolzzz... Like seriously dis man actually expected d EFCC to investigate Tinubu? Like seriously?? 1 Like 2 Shares
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Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by jumobi1(m): 3:45am On Jan 26, 2019 |
They’ll investigate after election. They need him right now. |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nobody: 3:48am On Jan 26, 2019 |
Nbote: |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nobody: 4:01am On Jan 26, 2019 |
BuhariAdvocate:So you can harm him and jail him for exposing the druglord? |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nobody: 4:48am On Jan 26, 2019 |
It is one thing to talk against
corruption.It is another thing
altogether to be against
corruption. President Buhari
only talks against corruption.
His body language and
policy options show
conclusively that he is not
really against
corruption.Buhari’s anti-
corruption is merely a means
to an end
Muhammadu Buhari ran for
election as president of
Nigeria in 2003, 2007 and
2011. He failed woefully on
all three occasions. He
failed because he did not
have the attributes that
Nigerians wanted in a
president. Many, I including,
felt he was too sectional.
His stint as military head-
of-state between 1984 and
1985 was eloquent
testimony of this.
Among other misdeeds,
Buhari preferred a Fulani
from Niger to an Igbo from
Nigeria as secretary-general
of the Organisation of
African Unity (OAU). He
locked Vice President Alex
Ekwueme, an Igbo, in jail;
but only put President
Shehu Shagari, a Fulani,
under house arrest.
He told Lam Adesina of Oyo
State that the Fulani
herdsmen of the North are
his people, as opposed to
the Yoruba farmers of the
South. He proclaimed a
determination to install
sharia law all over the
federation.
As a result, in 2011, out of a
total of 30 million votes
cast, Buhari could only
muster 391,922 votes from
all the states of the entire
Southern Nigeria.
Anti-corruption Rhetoric
However, in 2015, Buhari
ran for president yet again,
and succeeded. He
succeeded for one singular
reason: He ran on an anti-
corruption platform. By
2015, Nigerians were fed up
with the rampant corruption
that took place under the
Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP). While then President
Goodluck Jonathan himself
was not believed to be
corrupt, the popular
perception was that he
tolerated corruption. Indeed,
it was believed that
corruption got to an
unacceptable level under his
stewardship.
Enter, therefore, an image-
laundered and refurbished
Muhammadu Buhari,
smelling of roses. Buhari
was presented to Nigerians
as our home-grown “Mr.
Integrity.” He mesmerised a
gullible electorate seeking a
corruption-free presidential
Messiah with a highfaluting
anti-corruption rhetoric: “We
cannot build an economy
where corruption is the
working capital.” “I will kill
corruption before it kills
Nigeria.”
As a result, many Nigerians
who had been implacably
opposed to him in his earlier
three election campaign
efforts, swung to his
support. These included
Nigeria’s Nobel laureate,
Wole Soyinka, who had
earlier warned that: “In
Buhari, we have been offered
no evidence of the sheerest
prospect of change.” It also
included men like Nasir El-
Rufai, who observed earlier
that Buhari remains
“perpetually unelectable” as
a result of his “insensitivity
to Nigeria’s diversity and his
parochial focus.” Even his
former political nemesis,
Olusegun Obasanjo, became
his supporter.
foraminifera
However, after nearly four
years in power, we now know
that President Buhari has no
real anti-corruption clothes.
It is one thing to talk
against corruption. It is
another thing altogether to
be against corruption.
President Buhari only talks
against corruption. His body
language and policy options
show conclusively that he is
not really against
corruption. Buhari’s anti-
corruption is merely a
means to an end. That end
is not to rid Nigeria of
corruption but to get into
power and stay in power.
Scandalous PTF
If President Buhari was truly
against corruption, he would
not have agreed to serve
under Sani Abacha, one of
the most corrupt heads-of-
state ever in the history of
Nigeria. In 1994, Abacha
appointed Buhari as
chairman of the Petroleum
Trust Fund (PTF). Between
1994 and 1999, the PTF had
a colossal budget of N181
billion. If President Buhari
was truly Mr. Integrity, it
would not have been
discovered that the PTF he
presided over was riddled
with corruption.
In 1999, President Obasanjo
set up an Interim
Management Committee
(IMC), headed by Haroun
Adamu, to investigate the
activities of the PTF. While
today, the Economic and
Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) is
haranguing Ayodele Fayose
over N6.9 billion, in 1999,
the Adamu Committee
discovered that a whopping
N25 billion disappeared
from PTF coffers under
Buhari’s stewardship.
Nigerians need to know that,
under Buhari, the PTF
specialised in buying expired
drugs. A team of
pharmacists commissioned
to verify the Drugs Revolving
Fund Programmes of the
PTF discovered the
prevalence of expired drugs
all over the country, worth
over N2.4 billion.
Ambulances that could have
been purchased for N3
million were inflated under
Buhari’s stewardship to N13
million, resulting in a loss of
N900 million.
How can Buhari be known as
Mr. Integrity and yet have
this kind of tack-record?The
Haroun Adamu Committee
insisted that Buhari himself
should be probed by the
government. However,
because of the unspoken
fraternity in Nigeria whereby
generals don’t probe each
other, Obasanjo declined the
recommendation to probe
Buhari.
The Adamu Committee
discovered that in the PTF
Assisted HIV/AIDS
programmes under Buhari’s
stewardship, there was an
excessive order of HIV/AIDS
kits, which resulted in most
of the kits expiring before
use, and gross inflation of
the purchase price. This
brought a loss of N579
million to the Fund. In the
health sector, frames that
could have been bought for
N80 and N880 were inflated
to N1,900, resulting in a
loss of N13 million.
The Adamu Committee
valued the PTF residential
estate under Buhari at N328
million. However, the
contract was inflated by
N374 million to N703
million. The finances of the
estate were so fishy that the
Obasanjo government
decided to confiscate the
entire project. The same
sharp practices were
discovered with regard to the
extension of the PTF
headquarters under Buhari’s
stewardship. The Committee
valued the construction cost
at N326 million, but this was
inflated by Buhari’s PTF to
N461 million, thereby
defrauding the fund of N135
million.
In the rural water supply
programme, the Committee
was able to recover an
estimated N1 billion paid
illegally by Buhari’s PTF to
contractors as a result of
overpricing. In the National
Health and Educational
Institutions Rehabilitation
programme, over N600
million was recovered from
contractors due to non-
performance and overpricing.
In the National Educational
Material Procurement
Programme, N900 million
was recovered.
The rural telecommunication
programme was also riddled
with fraud. Buhari’s PTF
paid N1.6 billion as
mobilisation for the
programme without any
contract being signed
whatsoever. In the
Administration Account,
N664 million was recovered.
In the Project Account, N2.4
billion in discrepancies was
recovered. In the Treasury
Account, N510 million was
recovered.
How can Buhari be known
as Mr. Integrity and yet have
this kind of tack-record? The
Haroun Adamu Committee
insisted that Buhari himself
should be probed by the
government. However,
because of the unspoken
fraternity in Nigeria whereby
generals don’t probe each
other, Obasanjo declined the
recommendation to probe
Buhari.
But earlier this year,
Obasanjo expressed his
regret at not probing Buhari,
given the damning report
about his stewardship at the
PTF. The truth of the matter
is that if Buhari was indeed
anti-corrupt, he would not
have presided over a
corruption-riddled PTF.
Group Captain Usman Jibrin,
a board member of the PTF,
resigned from the
organisation in protest over
the blatant irregularities in
Buhari’s appointment of the
Afri-Project Consortium
(APC) led by Salihijo Ahmad
as consultants for the
organisation. As a matter of
fact, a principal actor in PTF
consultancy scam committed
suicide immediately the
probe into the
organisation’s affairs was
instituted for fear of being
exposed.
Hypocritical Anti-corruption
If President Buhari were
against corruption, he would
not have been an advocate
and defender of the
criminally-corrupt. Nigerians
need no convincing that
former head-of-state, Sani
Abacha, was corrupt. After
his death, it was discovered
that he stashed huge chunks
of public funds running into
billions of dollars in
different countries in Europe.
Nevertheless, on the 10th
anniversary of his death,
Buhari told incredulous
Nigerians that Abacha never
stole. He maintained that all
the allegations of looting the
treasury leveled against him
were “baseless.” He said:
“ten years after Abacha,
those allegations remain
unproven because of lack of
facts.”
Buhari held this position in
spite of the millions of
dollars of Abacha’s loot
recovered from banks around
the world, and in spite of the
fact that the Abacha’s
family signed a formal
agreement to return over $1
billion of such monies to the
Nigerian government.
Paradoxically, the same
president, who insisted
Abacha never stole, said this
to Nigerians through his
Twitter handle in 2016:
“Nigeria is awaiting receipt
from Swiss Govt. of $320
million, identified as illegally
taken from Nigeria under
Abacha.”
So did Abacha steal or not?
According to Mr. President,
Abacha never stole because
President Buhari was part
and parcel of the Abacha
administration. To admit
Abacha was corrupt is to
admit that the PTF he
presided over under Abacha
was also corrupt.
President Buhari cannot
campaign for re-election on
an anti-corruption platform
when, in the last four years,
he has condoned corruption
among his cohorts.
Corruption never disqualifies
anyone from prominence in
Buhari’s APC. Bisi Akande,
the first chairman of the All
Progressives Congress (APC)
, was jailed on corruption
charges.
We can see, therefore, that
President Buhari’s anti-
corruption fervour is merely
self-serving. He regards only
his political opponents as
having the copyright on
corruption. By this token,
every allegation of corruption
leveled against his friends
and financiers must be
“baseless.”
When Obasanjo supported
him, Obasanjo was not a
thief. Immediately Obasanjo
stopped supporting him,
Buhari alleged Obasanjo
mismanaged a $16 billion
power project as president.
As a result, in the last four
years, President Buhari has
prosecuted a war on
corruption essentially against
his political opponents.For
Buhari, all PDP members are
guilty of corruption until
proven innocent.
The president does not even
wait for the verdict of the
courts. The accused are tried
and convicted in the media
by the president and his
cohorts, as long as they do
not belong to the APC.
Corruption-ridden
Government
President Buhari cannot
campaign for re-election on
an anti-corruption platform
when, in the last four years,
he has condoned corruption
among his cohorts.
Corruption never disqualifies
anyone from prominence in
Buhari’s APC. Bisi Akande,
the first chairman of the All
Progressives Congress (APC)
, was jailed on corruption
charges. The APC minority
leader in the House of
Representatives, Femi
Gbajabiamila, was convicted
in the United States for
defrauding a client.
A judicial commission of
enquiry set up by the Rivers
State government maintained
that, under former Governor
Rotimi Amaechi, now
minister of transport, a
whopping N53 billion
disappeared from the Rivers
State Reserve Fund.
Babatunde Fashola, former
governor of Lagos and now
minister of works and
housing, was accused of
spending N78 million of
government money
upgrading his personal
website and of inflating the
cost of the Lekki-Ikoyi link-
bridge from N6 billion to
N25 billion. None of these
cases were taken up by the
EFCC.
A federal high court has
ordered that criminal
proceedings be instituted by
the EFCC against APC
chairman, Adams
Oshiomhole, for corrupt
enrichment as governor of
Edo. If the court had not
ordered this, it would clearly
not have been done by the
EFCC.
Abubakar Audu was under
prosecution by the EFCC for
misappropriating N11 billion
of state funds when he was
governor of Kogi State
between 1999 and 2003.
Nevertheless, he was
nominated as APC
governorship candidate for
Kogi in 2015.
In spite of the fact that the
EFCC had filed charges of
corruption against Timipre
Sylva for defrauding Bayelsa
State of N19 billion between
2009 and 2012; he
nevertheless became the
governorship candidate of
the APC for Bayelsa in 2016.
Under this anti-corruption
president, $43 million
discovered in an apartment
at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi,
Lagos has been buried.
Nothing more has been
heard about the award of $
25 billion worth of contracts
without due process by Dr.
Maikanti Baru, the group
managing direct of the
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC), as
alleged by the minister of
state for Petroleum
Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
The president has kept mum
over the Department of State
Services (DSS)’s indictment
of the acting chairman of the
EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, and the
report of the investigative
panel on him set up by the
attorney general of the
federation (AGF).
Nothing more has been
heard from the probe panel
on the N500 million bribe
allegedly paid by MTN to
Abba Kyari, the chief of staff
to the president, designed to
influence the government to
discontinue its heavy stance
on the $5 billion fine
imposed on the company.
Then there was the
Abdulrashid Maina scandal,
whereby a man who turned
fugitive when alleged to have
misappropriated N2 billion
of the pension fund and was
on the EFCC wanted list,
found his way back into the
country and into the federal
civil service with promotion.
We are still waiting to be
told the owner of the Legico
Shopping Plaza in Lagos
where the EFCC claimed it
found N448 million in cash.
Under this administration,
the corruption scandals are
unrelenting. How can Buhari
expect Nigerians to believe
he is sincere in fighting
corruption under these
hypocritical circumstances?
https:// 1 Like |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nobody: 5:30am On Jan 26, 2019 |
jumobi1:Buhari fake corruption war |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nobody: 6:28am On Jan 26, 2019 |
The lifeless dullard and the APC zombies won't see this. |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nobody: 10:41am On Jan 26, 2019 |
Nbote: [img]https://media1./images/b7d5f65367fd8f8c417f7cd897ca2192/tenor.gif[/img] |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by SalamRushdie: 10:44am On Jan 26, 2019 |
Buhari only fight corruption when it's suitable for his personal interest 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: N100bn Tax Fraud: Ex-MD Accuses EFCC Of Ignoring Petition Against Alpha Beta by Nobody: 10:48am On Jan 26, 2019 |
SalamRushdie:100 1 Like |
(1) (Reply)
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