Demand tax records from MTN, FIRS

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee yesterday summoned officials of the Ministry of Trade and Industry over the N2.6trn capital allowances granted to MTN.

This followed the audit queries by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation over alleged tax evasion

The chairman of the committee, Wole Oke, said the OAuGF report indicated that the documents related to the N2.6trn capital allowances were forged.

He said the Federal Inland Revenue Service had allegedly accorded value to MTN without certificates and evidence of capital allowance issued by the ministry to reflect the company’s assets.

He said: “We have issues in this country where funds are not adequate for government to carry out policies and programmes which is why we had to borrow even though there are massive revenue leakages.

“MTN has also made appearances where N2.6trn was seen as the taxable value for assets of the company and we asked as to where they exist and who verified them because they had already claimed value for them with the FIRS”.

The committee requested that MTN and the FIRS provide tax records covering the periods under review for further legislative scrutiny.

In her submission, MTN’s General Manager, Yemisi Adeleye, said the company had submitted all relevant documents issued by the ministry reflecting the value of the N2.6trn capital allowances given to MTN.

She said the allowances were granted to the company based on the site and assets inspection by the ministry at the end of the year.

She said based on the inspections carried out every year and at various locations since 2016 and supporting documents provided by MTN, the ministry granted the capital allowances.