Nigeria's EFCC Steps Up Fight Against Tax Evasion

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

17 September 2009

The Chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Farida Waziri, has disclosed that it would begin to prosecute companies found guilty of tax evasion.

At the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, during a speech entitled "Barbarians within the Gates: the EFCC, Criminal Loans and Tax Evasion," Waziri said that the EFCC has been able to retrieve more than NGN2bn (USD13m) from 30 companies that had committed various tax offences and not paid the necessary tax.

Waziri added that a project had been established by the EFCC to investigate such offences and prosecute tax defaulters, and that charges with regard to those cases had been made ready to be filed in the appropriate courts. She regretted the negative effect on Nigeria’s economy from the increase in tax evasion.

She was also of the opinion that at least part of the fall on the Nigerian Stock Exchange was due to the incidence of insider trading and other unlawful actions. It is possible that the EFCC will shortly begin to prosecute stockbrokers who are suspected of money laundering. She said that the EFCC, in conjunction with the government, was continuing to investigate outstanding bank borrowers who may have used their loans to purchase bank shares, and that NGN70bn had already been recovered in that regard.

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