ICPC warns against tax default

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission on Wednesday warned individuals and companies against tax default.

A statement issued in Abuja by Mr Folu Olamiti, the ICPC Media Consultant, the commission called for prompt and regular tax payment by taxable individuals and companies.

The commission also cautioned against patronage of tax touts in and outside tax offices.

The statement said the commission had started a nationwide investigation of corruption-prone processes in personal and company income tax payments.

It said the investigation became necessary following high incidences of presentation of fake and altered tax clearance certificates.

It said the Bureau of Public Procurement had recently referred for investigation some companies suspected to have presented forged tax clearance certificates during a contract bid exercise in one of the federal ministries.

Preliminary investigations indicated that about 156 of these companies may face prosecution for using fake tax clearance certificates.

'Similarly, any company that present spurious audited reports in a public bid also stands the risk of being prosecuted,' it stressed.

The statement said the ICPC had barred two companies from making the final list of successful bidders for presenting 'cooked' audit reports during the recently concluded privatisation exercise of PHCN.