The Senate on Wednesday faulted the alleged non
remittance of $3.3 billion from the $21.3 billion collected as foreign tax by
the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in 2015.
It has, therefore, queried the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) to give explanations as to the unremitted $3.3billion from the
$21.3billion collected by the FIRS as foreign tax in the year under review.
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts at its
sitting revealed that the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation in an
audit query revealed that while FIRS recorded $21.3 billion as total sum of
foreign tax collected by it in 2015 and domiciled in the apex bank, CBN on the
other hand, recorded $18billion.
On the strength of the query, the committee headed
by Senator Mathew Urhoghide challenged the CBN management to explain the
shortfalls which the apex bank's Deputy Governor (Corporate Affairs), Mr.
Edward Lamatek Adamu, couldn't explain satisfactorily.
The CBN deputy governor in a move to convince the
committee that the shortfall of $3.3billion was not missing or unremitted, said
variations in exchange rate during the period resulted in variation of amounts recorded by FIRS and CBN.
The committee, however, ordered Adamu and other top
officials of the bank to report back to it next Monday with required documents
on the alleged variations in exchange rate.
Addressing journalists after the closed-door
session, Uroghide said: "While the record of FIRS showed $21.3 billion, the
record of CBN showed $18 billion.
"When CBN was asked about why the differences
in the amount, it hinged its argument on exchange rate, upon which officials of
the bank are directed to come up with supporting documents if they have.
"For instance, when the Auditor General of
Federation raised an issue, we found out that FIRS said it collected $21
billion and then CBN is saying that from their own statement it is $18 billion.
"And
the contention there is that CBN will say it is exchange rate, but we now asking
that what was the exchange rate on their platform at that time for us to be
able to know whether the $3.3 billion is in the account or whether CBN was
surcharging FIRS, or whether FIRS was over estimating what they had. So we have
asked them to go and come back with the documents.
"There were 13 queries raised concerning CBN.
Today, they have explained some while some are yet to be sufficiently
explained, particularly the $3.3billion difference from the $21.3billion
foreign taxes remitted by FIRS," the senator said.
Meanwhile, the committee will from June 9 hold a
public hearing on some other highly rated
government establishments like the Nigerian Army, the Police and the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) over their alleged unaudited accounts
since 2015.
The public hearing, which will end on July 21, will
see ministers and heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) like
Foreign Affairs, Power, Aviation, Niger Delta Affairs, Petroleum Resources and
National Assembly to explain to the committee why their accounts remain
unaudited since December 2015.
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