Reps to probe alleged tax evasion by Stallion Group

Chamber stands down debate on maltreatment of Nigerians by foreign firms

THE House of Representa­tives yesterday asked its yet-to-be constituted Com­mittee on Customs and Excise to probe alleged evasion of tax by Stallion Group under the new Na­tional Rice Development Policy.

This came as the chamber failed to debate an alleged poor treatment of Nigeri­ans working in companies owned by expatriates.

The House in a motion entitled, “Need to investi­gate the evasion of tax by Stallion Group”, raised by Hon. Abdullahi Umar Fa­ruk, resolved the allegation must be investigated to help address the issue.

Faruk, while quoting a report (not in Daily Sun) of June 2, 2015, alleged that Stallion Group has been making efforts to evade payments of N17 billion import duty imposed on it by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), for exceed­ing its 2014 rice import quota under the dual tariff system.

He recalled that the Inter-Ministerial Commit­tee headed by former Vice President Namadi Sambo, adopted a new “national rice supply gap” of 782,000 metric tonnes and allocated quotas to 16 existing mill­ers including Mascot Agro, which, he said, was hur­riedly registered as a sub­sidiary of Stallion Group since it was blacklisted by the NCS for non-payment of excess duty.

He alleged “the Stallion Group evaded payment of N15 billion duty arising from its having imported 475,000 metric tonnes of rice over and above its 2014 quota of 89,939 met­ric tonnes of rice through Mascot Agro, which was not a recognised rice miller without any quota alloca­tion in 2014.”

According to Farouk, while other com­panies such as Kereksuk Farms, Atafi Rice Indus­tries and Arewa Rice Mill paid their duties to the Cus­toms, the Stallion Group still refused to pay its taxes and was determined to use additional quotas granted to Mascot Agro to further evade payment of the new Customs duty.

He warned that if the matter was not thoroughly investigated in line with current government’s anti-corruption stance, a wrong precedent could be set and would encourage similar acts by other private enti­ties.

Lending his voice to the matter, Minority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, opposed the motion, stressing that his committee had in the past done similar inves­tigation of evasion of rice import duty. He noted that there were reports and recommendations that could guide the House on the way forward.

Ruling on the motion, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, said it was right for the mo­tion to be taken, emphasis­ing that new light could be shed on the issue. The motion was unanimously agreed upon by the House after it was put to a voice vote.

M e a n ­while, the House declined to intervene on the reported inhuman treatment of Nige­rians working in some for­eign companies operating in Nigeria.

A motion to address the issue entitled, “Urgent Need to Curb Unwhole­some Practices of Chinese, Indian and Lebanese Companies in Nigeria” was withdrawn by the sponsor, Segun Adekola (PDP, Ekiti).