Reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC arrested 40 management and junior staff of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS following an alleged N2.1billion scam left the country in shock. The shock is not specifically because of the present act in itself, but because it comes from an agency of government charged with generating revenue for the government at all levels. It is even worse because that agency always complain about how Nigerians do not pay their taxes and difficulty they meet while trying to get people to pay. The much they have collected appears now to not be enough for the greed of people who work there.
The cash was said to have been siphoned through alleged payment of Duty Tour Allowances, DTA to the staff. Some of the suspects were paid as much as N101million, N97million, N89million, N84million, N65million, N52million and N46million as Duty Tour Allowances. Some of those arrested have started paying back the illicit payments made to them, investigations reveal.
So far, the international passports of 10 of the officials have been seized so as to restrict their movement to the country pending investigation. The EFCC has also written some embassies to retrieve the passports of some of the officials who may have sought visas to elope. The anti-graft commission said it was expecting the most senior director for interrogation as the approving authority of the DTA allowances. Although the official is said to be on medical treatment abroad, the EFCC said there was no evidence before it to show that he is ill.
Although EFCC operatives are said to have quizzed the Director of Finance, Mr. M. Auta, who claimed to have acted on the instructions of the Coordinating Director, it appears if the Commission digs deeper more sleazy details may emerge even in unrelated deals. Specifically, EFCC is “investigating alleged inflation of Duty Tour Allowances, humongous payments to staff, diversion of funds and outright stealing of public funds”.
“There was information that some senior management staff were using some middle and junior cadre of the service to siphon funds from the accounts of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in the guise of travelling allowances. For the records, the fraudulent practices were perpetrated between 2017 and 2018. Initially, the accounts of the staff were scrutinised and over N2.1billion was discovered to have been paid to them by the FIRS.
“However, a proper scrutiny was carried out. During investigation, their normal salaries, DTA were deducted and finally what was illegally paid to these staff was N1.6billion. “The funds were paid to the staff and after little deductions, the bulk of the money was usually given to the senior management staff.
Prominent among those who have a case to answer is a Coordinating Director.
“As civil servants, some of the suspects were paid as much as N101million, N97million, N89million, N84million, N65million, N52million and N46million as Duty Tour Allowances. There is no way a civil servant can earn about N101million in his or her 35 years in service. In some instances, some staff claimed to have been in Lagos, Sokoto, Calabar on the same day and collected DTA. Most of the DTA allowances were actually not used for official purposes or public service. This is a case of stealing and money laundering.
With the details coming from the investigations, it is obvious that there is no country run like ours by trusted officials that will survive. It appears our system is populated by persons willing to steal no matter any measure you put in place. Their determination to steal public funds is legendary and without any shame whatsoever. It has become compulsive in the least.
EFCC sources further revealed that they will not be “able to determine how much was credited to him (coordinating director) until he is interrogated. We are looking for him. Even if he resigns, as being speculated, he has to answer the allegations against him. So far, the Director of Finance of FIRS, Mr. M. Auta has been quizzed by detectives. He admitted that he acted on approvals and instructions by the Coordinating Director.”
We are also taken aback at the introduction of someone as “coordinating director”. This is a position or nomenclature we have never heard before. We hope this title is not in a bid to hide someone’s identity. The Service has no such office. If they do, they should tell us when it was created. EFCC should go the full hog to investigate any shred of doubt regarding possible pilfering of public resources. It’s shameful to steal from taxes paid by struggling citizens. We call on EFCC to charge these people and others who may be indicted in future to court and slam them with the heaviest possible charges.
