N30TN REVENUE LEAKAGE: Indicted firms’ll soon be named, handed over to EFCC –Senate

The Nigerian Senate has concluded plans to make public, names of indicted companies involved in Nigeria’s import and export value chain N30 trillion revenue scam.

The chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, and Marine Transport, Senator Hope Uzodinma, who revealed this on Sunday to newsmen in Abuja, added that the indicted companies will be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Customs.

According to Uzodinma, the Senate committee had concluded the first phase of its probe with over 60 companies investigated and several of them found to have been involved in various infractions leading to the loss of revenue by the Federal Government.

“We have got 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 the EFCC and the 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,” Uzodinma said.

Uzodinma expressed dismay that at a time the Federal Government was making efforts to improve its revenue to meet the country’s needs that some people could involve in acts aimed at jeopardising government’s efforts.

“Some of the companies have started paying while others have not. None of them has fully paid what we have established against them. Since they have started paying, we will now transfer the matter to the Customs, who will now do a recovery schedule with the companies that are willing, voluntarily, to pay what is due to the government.

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“By the time the names are published, Nigerians and the Federal Government will know which company is owing what and the relevant agencies will go after them to recover the money,” he said.

The joint committee was mandated by the Senate to probe the alleged N30 trillion revenue leakages in the foreign exchange and the entire import and export value chain between 2006 and 2017.

The committee had in its interim report presented to the Senate on October 18, 2017, claimed that N140 billion had so far been recovered.

 

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