BEVERLY HILLS, CA, July 09, (THEWILL) – Some officials of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State have been fingered in an alleged N120million fraud rocking the institution, THEWILL has learnt.
Reliable source at the State Security Service (SSS) who craved anonymity told our correspondent that SSS personnel have already established the fraud of which many top management staff of the institution (names withheld) were allegedly indicted.
The alleged fraud, it was learnt, is not unconnected with the Personal Income Tax amounting to N3.59 billion the institution is allegedly owing the Delta State Government.
It could be recalled that officials of the Delta State Board of Internal Revenue had in 2012 indicted the institution of allegedly owing it un-remitted tax.
According to a legal aide to the Executive Chairman of the commission, Clark Ekpebe, the tax owed by the institution was in accordance to the provisions of Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) as amended 2011 which forbids anybody whose responsibility it is to deduct taxes from their employees to fail to remit same to the Revenue Board.
Ekpebe had said that the institution was “criminally liable for withholding and failing to remit taxes deducted from employees as enshrined in Section 74 of the PITA Act.”
An impeccable source said that the institution had ‘settled’ the matter by remitting part of the N3.59billion in an ‘out of court’ settlement deal but had allegedly shared about N120 million among top management, a development which the SSS officials were reportedly called to investigate and one that allegedly indicted the institution .
“The SSS had indicted the institution over the un-remitted tax issues and have established that N120million was fraudulently pocketed by some top management of the institution, of which they were investigated and found wanting.
“One of the staff of the institute who was also indicted but had recently retired from the institution later took SSS to court in a bid to clear his name and to restrain them from pushing for his persecution,” a reliable source told our correspondent.
The source however said that the matter currently in court only involves those indicted over the matter and not the institution in particular.
When contacted over the allegation, the counsel to the institution, O.J Oghenejakpo, who doubles as counsel to the indicted staff, dismissed the allegation, saying the matter was still in court.
The institution’s Public Relation Officer, Mr. Brown, who appeared to have been taken aback over the inquiry however wondered how the press got the information, saying the matter was in court and it would be prejudice to comment on it.
