CEOAfrica :: FIRS director, mother of four arraigned for alleged tax fraud

A Deputy Director, Regional Tax Office of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Abumere Joseph Osagie and a mother of four, Jamila Ojora, were arraigned yesterday before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Maitama.

They were, in a two-count charge filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), charged with criminal conspiracy and receipt of gratification.

Osagie and Ojora were said to have approached the Chancellor of Baze University, Abuja, Senator Ahmed Datti with a tax assessment of N20,029,496.00 on January 27, 2016, through a letter of intent, which he paid.

Senator Datti was said to have later requested for the assessment certificate, which the two allegedly refused to issue. The EFCC said rather than issue Datti with the assessment certificate, the defendants allegedly demanded for N5million gratification.

In a bid to establish the legitimacy of the defendants activities, EFCC’s marked N5million was delivered to Osagie through Ojora, in a sting operation, which led to her arrest. Ojora’s confession was said to have led to Osagie’s arrest.

The offence contravenes Section 17(1)(a) and punishable under 17 (1) (c) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000. One of the counts, reads: “Abumere Joseph Osagie and Jamila Ojora on or about January 27, 2016 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, corruptly accepted the sum of N5,000,000.00 (five million naira) from one Senator Ahmed Datti as a gift for having done a tax assessment for Baze University.”