Reps To Investigate Multichoice Nig Over Non Remittance Of $342m Tax

The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate MultiChoice Nigeria over failure to remit about N1.8 trillion and $342 million tax revenue to the Nigerian government.

The resolution followed a motion on notice sponsored by the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Saidu Abdullahi.

The House in its resolution warned Multichoice Africa who are the potential buyers of Multichoice Nigeria, or any other Subsidiaries of the Multichoice Group operating in Nigeria to be aware of the alleged outstanding indebtedness to the Nigerian government which may have been covered in their papers.

The investigation is to focus on the possible suppression of information discovered from the submissions of MultiChoice in their home country.

Moving the motion, Abdullahi informed the House that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was established in 2007 as one of the revenue collection Agencies, and is expected to collect revenue on behalf of the Federation and remit same to the Government’s Treasury.

According to him, the oversight functions of the National Assembly as provided in Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) are to enable the Legislature to carry out investigation within its legislative competence to prevent and expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws.

He alleged that Multichoice, a prominent multinational corporation operating in Nigeria, has been accused of non-remittance of tax revenues due to the Federation, as evidenced by the suppression of information discovered from the submissions in their home country.

He disclosed that previous attempts by FIRS to recover the unpaid taxes through legal means; including court proceedings and the subsequent resolution to settle out of the court by both parties have not yielded the desired result.

He said further that Nigeria economy is currently facing significant challenges, with dwindling revenues posing a threat to the overall fiscal stability and development of the Country.

The Lawmaker stressed that the systems audit and investigation revealed enormous indebtedness to the tune of over N1.8 trilion in back total taxes for MultiChoice Nigeria, and $342 million in Value-added tax, for MultiChoice Africa that had never paid any taxes since they started business operations in Nigeria.

He revealed that there are ongoing arrangements to sell Multichoice Nigeria and other Multichoice Group Subsidiaries in Nigeria to a foreign Interest, while tax indebtedness is outstanding.

He maintained that if urgent actions are not taken to recover the tax revenues from the Multichoice Group, Nigeria may lose huge revenue that can inject life into the economy.

He said there is need to thoroughly investigate the non-remittance of tax revenue by Multichoice to the Federation to ascertain the veracity of the allegations and take appropriate action to safeguard the interests of Nigerians.

Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji