The Senate says it is set to publish names of companies found culpable in
investigation into alleged N30 trillion revenue scam in the import and export
value chain.
Sen. Hope Uzodinma, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and
Tariff and Marine Transport, made this known in an interview with newsmen on
Sunday.
He said the committee had completed its first batch of investigation
involving over 60 companies and would publish names of companies involved in
various infractions leading to loss of government revenue.
He said the committee was releasing the names because it had established
culpability against the companies.
Uzodinma added that the names to be published would contain details of how
much of recoverable government revenue was with each of the companies.
The lawmaker stressed that companies found to be involved in infractions
bothering on money laundering and foreign exchange abuses would be referred to
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution and
recovery of the monies.
He added that those bothering on smuggling and import infractions would be
referred to the Nigeria Customs Service for recovery of such revenues.
“We got up to the point that even the companies themselves have seen that
they are culpable and that is why we want to publish the names and hand them
over to EFCC and Customs.
“The reason for the delay in publishing the names all the while is to
establish culpability against the companies.
“Now through various reconciliations, it has been established and we are no
longer in doubt, including the companies that are involved, that these things
are in existence and that they are culpable.
“We have presented the interim report which detailed how much we have
recovered so far and the Senate approved it in plenary, while an extension was
given to us to do the final reconciliation.
“We do not want emphasis to continue to be on how much we have recovered
even though it is contained in the report. We want those companies found
culpable to go to government and make payments,’’ he said.
The joint committee was mandated by the Senate to carry out investigation
into alleged N30 trillion revenue leakages in foreign exchange and the entire
import and export value chain between 2006 and 2017.
It was mandated to identify leakages and irregularities in the system and
come up with recommendations that would block further leakages and strengthen
the revenue drive of the Nigeria Customs Service.
In an interim report presented to the Senate on Oct. 18, the committee said
it had recovered N140 billion.
The report indicated that some collection banks had made remittances to the
Central Bank of Nigeria to the tune of N128 billion with evidence of payment
received by the committee.
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