Thisday Newspaper In Tax Evasion Scandal
The Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) on Monday confirmed that purported tax remittances by Leaders & Company Limited, publishers of THISDAY newspaper, on behalf of a former editor of the newspaper, Paul Ibe are not on its database.
This was reveled during ongoing trial brought by Mr. Ibe against Leaders & Company Limited and its Chairman/CEO, Nduka Obaigbena, at the National Industrial Court in Abuja.
Mr. Ibe, is a former editor with THISDAY Newspaper who had in July 2011, dragged The publisher Mr. Obaigbena and Leaders & Company Limited owners of THISDAY Newspaper to court over alleged non remittances of his pension and taxes (PAYE) to the relevant agencies.
Ibe further prayed the court to declare that the procedure adopted by the defendant, which led to the termination of his employment on July 13, 2010, as unlawful, illegal and in bad faith.
Thisday Newspaper is known and popular for owing staff salaries for minimum of four months; his workers have at different times accused the Publisher of encouraging staff-journalists to seek alternative but illegitimate means of getting rewarded.
During the trial, Garba Gusau, the Manager, Tax Operations Group for the Federal Inland Revenue Services Manager, told the court, that a thorough search of FIRS database as it relates to tax remittances of Mr. Ibe revealed there was no record. Mr. Gusau whose work Led in evidence by Noble Ifeme, for the claimant, Mr. Gusau whose work includes among others monitoring of tax offices in relation to collection of taxes, confirmed that he authored the letter from FIRS with respect to Mr. Ibe’s tax, which had already been admitted in evidence by the court.
He said that the letter dated 5th July, 2011 and addressed to Messrs Noble Ifeme & Co and titled “Re: Request for confirmation of tax remittance and TIN number” followed a letter from Barr. Noble dated 6th June 2011 seeking confirmation of tax remittance and TIN number of Mr. Ibe during his more than 12 years employment with THISDAY Newspaper.
When asked by Mr. Noble if the letter before the court from FIRS was a true reflection of the facts, Mr. Garba confirmed that as at the time he wrote the letter of 5th July 2011, “there was no record of remittance” with respect to his client (Ibe) whom he wrote on his behalf.
Asked if Leaders & Co Ltd is registered with the FIRS in line with statutory provisions, Mr. Garba noted that even if that is the case, there are no remittances with respect to Mr. Ibe.
When asked by Mr. Zibiri if he was aware that the head office of THISDAY Newspaper is in Lagos, Mr. Garba insisted that a search at the headquarters of FIRS in Abuja revealed that Mr. Ibe is not on the database of the tax agency.
At this point, Mr. Zibiri put forward some documents to Mr. Garba, which sought to confirm that THISDAY was a tax paying company, but the FIRS official said that he was in no position to confirm the authenticity of the documents because they are not certified by FIRS.
Mr. Zibiri then asked for an adjournment to enable him have the documents, which he said is germane to his case verified by the appropriate department of FIRS. The court thereafter adjourned till October 19, 2013 for the conclusion of the cross examination of Garba.
Earlier Mr. Ibe had ended his cross examination by Zibiri, counsel for both Obaigbena and Leaders & Co Ltd.
