CITY NEWS KWIRS staffer, 4 others in court over receipt racketeering

A member of staff of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) and four others have been arraigned before Magistrate Shade Lawal of the Kwara State Revenue Court on charges of criminal conspiracy and forgery of receipts of the revenue agency.

This was disclosed in a statement by the agency’s Director of Legal and Enforcement, Mr Lateef Okandeji, who added that the five accused persons are staffers of both the KWIRS and the Kwara State Bureau of Lands.

Okandeji disclosed that sometimes in August, the agency discovered that some prospective tax payers within Ilorin and its environs were being issued with fake receipts of the agency. The receipts, he said, indicated payment of huge sums of money by the tax payers.

He noted that the agency, thereafter, petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Kwara State command, who arrested the accused persons in the course of investigation.

Okandeji listed the names of the accused as Adebola Ajibare, 37, (KWIRS); and Adeleke Hakeem, 34; Moshood Isiaka, 33; Adisa Abdullahi, 32; and Ayilara Adenike, 42, who are staffers of the Bureau of Lands. He confirmed that they have confessed to the crime.

The director said the accused conspired and forged the documents of the revenue agency to sabotage the revenue generation efforts of the state government and defraud innocent tax payers.

He noted that the judge, Magistrate Shade Lawal, admitted the accused to bail and adjourned the case to October 10, 2017 for further mention.