Senate Summons Finance Minister, EFCC Boss, Others over Revenue Leakages

The Senate has summoned the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emeifele; acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Melee Kyari, to appear before it over revenue lost annually to tax evasion and money laundering activities in the country.

This was sequel to the adoption of a motion entitled: ‘The need to review the domestic framework against illicit financial flows and to consider the creation of a tax amnesty for the voluntary repatriation of funds to Nigeria’, which was sponsored by Senator Gershom Bassey.

Also invited are Heads of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC); Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU); the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), among other relevant institutions, which are expected to brief the Senate Committees on Finance, Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes; Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions on measures being sought to curb revenue loss, tax evasion and money laundering activities.

The Senate, while mandating its three committees to investigate illicit financial flows, also called for an appraisal of the FIRS current framework for tracing, identifying, preventing and sanctioning cross-border tax evasion and other illicit financial outflows.

It also moved to block Nigeria’s revenue loss owing to money laundering, tax evasion by international oil companies operating in the country (IOCs), proceeds of corruption and other criminal activities involving illicit financial flows.