Delta Revenue Board seals up 3 companies over N42m tax deductions

The Delta State Board of Internal Revenue, DBIR, has sealed up three companies in Udu and Uvwie Local Government Areas of Delta State for alleged non-remittance of N42 million tax deductions to the state government.

The companies are Shore Gas Limited, Lateejay Oil and Gas Limited and a three-star hotel, Mega Hilton Hotel in Effurun, which was shut down for the same offence in 2011.

Shore Gas Limited is reportedly indebted to the tune of N2.4 million, Lateejay Oil and Gas Limited, N27,510,000 and Mega Hilton Hotel, N11.4million.

Apart from sealing up the premises of the affected companies and hotel, DBIR officials who went for the assignment with a team of fully armed mobile policemen and representatives from High Court, Warri, confiscated some movable properties and taken to court.

Speaking with newsmen at the end of the exercise, Legal Officer to the Chairman of DBIR, Mr. Clark Ekpebe, said, “Sometime in September 2013, the Delta State Board of Internal Revenue,  under the Executive Chairman, Hon. Joel-Onowakpo Thomas, held a stakeholders’ meeting with tax payers in the state, where he appealed to them to settle their liabilities with the Board on or before 25th of September 2013,  as the Board will take all legal steps to recover the monies owed the state government.”

He said a situation where the state government is owed several billions of naira was worrisome and incompatible with the present administration’s vision of Delta Beyond Oil, anchored mostly on internally generated revenue, which the Board has a duty to enforce.

”Consequently, having exhausted every means for defaulters to see reason and settle their outstanding liabilities to no avail, the Board is now embarking on enforcement exercise against defaulters with duly secured court orders to seal up and distrain upon their goods and
chattels in settlement of the liabilities,” he said.

While advising companies yet to pay up their liabilities to go to tax collecting banks to pay, Clark said, “We want to assure the tax-paying public that as much as the Board will not take undue advantage of any tax payer so shall it not collect a kobo less of what is due to the state government. This exercise is total against defaulters and there are no sacred cows as the law will take its course on all of them.”

Officials of Lateejay Oil and Gas Limited and Mega Hilton Hotel refused speaking to newsmen. But the Manager of Shore Gas Limited, who simply gave his name as Chinazor, said they were not aware of the new liabilities as they have been remitting their deductions.

He blamed the incident  on breakdown in communication, adding that since it had to do with government, there was no need to trade words and the company would follow up to find a way to settle its liability.

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