Alleged Extortion: Lawyers petition ICPC, IGP; seek tax board probe

Two legal practitioners, Bala Dakum and Nurat Usman, have petitioned Musa Aliyu, the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, over alleged extortion levelled against the Joint Tax Board (JTB).

Mr Dakum, a principal partner, and Mr Usman, a counsel at the law firm of B.I. Dakum & Co also petitioned the inspector general of police, Kayode Egbetokun, in two letters jointly signed by them.

The Income Tax Management Act of 1961 created the JTB and charged it primarily with ensuring uniformity of standards and application of personal income tax in Nigeria.

The lawyers, in letters dated March 25 and March 19 to ICPC and police heads made available on Wednesday, urged Aliyu and Egbetokun to thoroughly investigate JTB’s activities.

They alleged that JTB engaged in harassment, extortions and unlawful impoundment of vehicles under the guise of implementing the Single Inter-State Road Tax Stickers (SIRTS) and Single Haulage Fee (SHF) JTB.

In a letter to the ICPC chairman, the lawyers said they “are solicitors to Paben MBC Ltd. and on whose firm instructions we petition you.”

They said the company, a limited liability firm, is duly registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020, and is into haulage businesses.

Solomon Obodeh is its CEO.

They alleged that since 2022, the JTB had engaged in unlawful implementation of the SIRTS and SHF.

The petitioners said though the operation was said to be carried out pursuant to the provisions of the Taxes and Levies Act, Amendment Order 2015, neither the Act establishing the JTB nor other legislation gives it the powers to engage a consultant or operate SIRTs and SHF initiatives.

Besides, the lawyer argued that a judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State delivered by Justice A.O. Faji on May 8, 2020 had “nullified the Taxes and Levies Act, Amendment Order, 2015 which is allegedly the basis of the implementation of the SIRTs and SHF initiatives.”

“The said Act which the Joint Tax Board purports to derive its powers particularly PART IV. 2(a) of the said Act only gives the JTB the powers to design stickers but not to produce issues and or engage a consultant.

“Section 2(b), Part IV of the said Act empowers the states to set up institutional structures to collect haulage fee and not the JTB,” the petitioners said.

According to the lawyers, JTB agents nationwide are carrying out this exercise.

“The modus operandi is that, the JTB stations its agents in strategic locations across the federation and empower them to impound all commercial vehicles and some designated private vehicles who do not purchase its stickers.

“The amounts paid by the owners/drivers of the vehicles for the said stickers are arbitrarily determined by the particular agent of the JTB. The money paid is normally received in cash or into private accounts of the said JTB agents.

“The state’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) chairmen sell stickers to subcontractors at the state levels who selt at different rates to unsuspecting members of the public without receipts,” they alleged.

In the letter addressed to the IGP, the lawyers equally called for the investigation of Citiserve Limited, a consultancy company engaged by JTB.

The lawyers, who gave instances where their client had been made to pay for the stickers at various times, urged the ICPC chair and the IGP to invite the JTB management to explain the legal framework upon which they base the operations.

They want the JTB to disclose the official price of the stickers and how much was generated since implementing the said initiatives.

They also want the consultant to be invited to disclose how much was generated through its platform since the commencement of the initiatives.