“We are looking at that. In some cases, it is as simple as some people got married and did not update their names but in other cases, it is a matter of fraud. This is just to give you an idea of how detailed we go and we keep checking the payroll on a regular basis.” Mrs. Adesoun also said that over 100 properties of the nation’s foreign missions and federal government agencies which were not captured in an earlier audit were found.
“Teams visited foreign missions and discovered that foreign missions and some government agencies had over 100 properties that were not recorded. Some abandoned. And some people trying to sell them off and we have to stop them,” she said.
On the performance of the 2017 Budget, she expressed optimism that at the end of the month, about N1. 5 trillion would have been spent on capital projects.
The federal government has paid another set of 14 whistleblowers the sum of N439.276 million for providing tips on tax evaders. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who briefed the press yesterday, in Abuja, disclosed that the payment was made this week, after the government received the sum of N13.8 billion from the affected tax evaders, mainly corporate organizations, based on tips by the whistle blowers Her words, “The Whistleblower Policy started December 2016. Since then, we have had 8, 373 37communications of which 1, 231 were actually tips.
“We have conducted 534 investigations; 10 prosecutions and four convictions. “This week, we paid whistle blowers the sum of N439. 276 million, it was to 14 people who provided specific tips on tax evasions about companies who deliberately evaded or under-paid taxes. Working on those tips, we have held discussions with those companies and they have paid N13. 8 billion which we have confirmed have been paid to the Federal Inland revenue Service.
“Under the VAIDS, We are getting far more tips on tax evasions, which of course is a crime against us all and this is a new trend that we thought is worth bringing to your attention. So these people, are being paid this month. “This is the first time we are having that number where we have concluded either communications with companies and the companies have actually paid the money to FIRS.”
Mrs. Adeosun said that the Whistleblowing strategy would be revising some of its mode of operations based on what the unit has learnt from a recent trip of its officials to the United kingdom. She disclosed that the federal government was actively preparing cases for prosecution against tax evaders and that very serious actions would be taken at the end of next month, when the tax amnesty would end.
