Auditors to get N8.7bn for recovering N58bn into Federation Account

Auditors who helped to recover N58bn into the Federation Account are to receive N8.7bn for their efforts, investigation has revealed.

The amount represents 15 per cent of the recovery, which the auditors helped the government to make from banks that failed to remit the money into the Federation Account.

The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission recently announced that the auditors helped it to recover N58bn, which the banks collecting revenues on behalf of the government failed to remit into the Federation Account.

Investigation by our correspondent showed that the RMAFC signed an agreement that allowed the auditors to receive 15 per cent of any amount they helped the government to recover from the defaulting banks.

The commission also announced that it had issued a demand notice to the banks for another N16.4bn that had yet to be recovered from those of them appointed to collect revenues on behalf of government revenue collecting agencies.

The banks were appointed to collect revenues on behalf of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria Customs Service and the Department of Petroleum Resources.

The Acting Chairman, RMAFC, Umar Gana, had said that N48.7bn of the recovered money had been paid into the Federation Account, while N9.07bn relating to withholding tax on dividend only had been released to the benefitting states’ boards of internal revenue.

The PUNCH had exclusively reported that the RMAFC had in 2016 selected 111 auditors and auditing firms out of more than 150 that applied to probe the banks operating for non-remittance of taxes and duties collected on behalf of the government.

The probe of the banks covered the period July 2012 to December 2015.

The audit exercise covered taxes, levies and duties collected by the banks for the FIRS, NCS and the Department of Petroleum Resources.

The probe was sequel to a similar exercise in which the banks were investigated for revenues collected between January 2008 and June 2012. The exercise had revealed that the banks failed to remit N12bn that they collected in taxes and duties on behalf of the revenue collecting agencies.

Following the success of the first exercise, the National Economic Council at its meeting on April 21, 2016 approved that the RMAFC should appoint a good number of consultants to ensure wider coverage of the verification of the activities of the banks regarding revenue collection.

(Punch News)