FERMA OWES FG 1.9BN -REPORT

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FERMA owes FG 1.9bn -Report
•Another N586m trapped in defunct banks
From CHUKS AKUNNA and IHEANACHO NWOSU, Abuja
Tuesday, May 15 , 2012

The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) is indebted to the Federal Government to the tune of N1.97 billion in unremitted taxes, Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) has said.

The AGF also disclosed that the agency lost N586 million to some defunct banks, notably City Express Bank. The revelations were made during a meeting of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts and Select Agencies, yesterday in Abuja.

Citing the AGF’s report, Chairman of the committee, Solomon Adeola wondered why FERMA was yet to remit N1.9 billion being withholding and Value Added Taxes (VAT) to government.
He drew the attention of FERMA management to N586.3 million reportedly written off in 2006 because the money was trapped in some distressed banks, and echoed the directive of the AGF to the agency to recover the money.
The committee chairman also ordered the recovery of another N4 million said to have been paid to a consultant to recover the trapped money.

Adeola was cross with the Accountant-General of the Federation for turning down eight invitations to appear before it.
“The Office of the AGF (Accountant-General of the Federation) has not yet responded to queries from the Committee. This is the eighth time they have failed to honour our invitation.
“The AGF, CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) and NNPC (Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation) believe they are above board. We shall no longer tolerate any disrespect from them by not appearing before the committee on May 16,” Adeola declared.
He directed the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to, submit its audited report for 2006.

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