The House of Representatives has cautioned the potential buyers of MultiChoice Nigeria, MultiChoice Africa, or any of its subsidiaries operating in Nigeria to be aware of the alleged outstanding indebtedness that may have been covered in their papers.
The House mandated the Committee on Finance to investigate the non-remittance of tax revenues by MultiChoice to the federation with a focus on the suppression of information discovered from their submissions in their home country.
The Committee is and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion titled: Need to investigate the alleged unremitted N1.8trn and $342m tax revenues owed to the Federation by MultiChoice Group, moved by Saidu Abdullahi.
The House noted that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was established in 2007 as one of the revenue collection agencies, adding that it is expected to collect revenues on behalf of the Federation and remit the same to the government’s treasury.
It also noted that the oversight functions of the National Assembly as provided in Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) are to enable the Legislature to investigate within its legislative competence to prevent and expose corruption, inefficiency, or waste in the execution or administration of laws.
The House said it was aware that MultiChoice, a prominent multinational corporation operating in Nigeria, has been accused of non-remittance of tax revenues due to the federation, as evidenced by the suppression of information discovered from the submissions in their home country.
It said it was also aware that Nigeria’s economy is currently facing significant challenges, with dwindling revenues posing a threat to the overall fiscal stability and development of the country.
The House said it was cognisant that the Federal Inland Revenue Service had engaged a consultant in 2021 under a Whistleblowing contract to carry out an audit of the tax obligations of MultiChoice Nigeria and MultiChoice Africa to ascertain the company’s tax indebtedness to the country, their findings led to a back audit and investigation carried out by the FIRS from 2011 to 2020.
The House said it was also cognisant of the previous attempts by FIRS to recover the unpaid taxes through legal means, including court proceedings and the subsequent resolution to settle out of the court by both parties has not yielded the desired result.
It observed that the systems audit and investigation revealed enormous indebtedness to the tune of over N1.8trn in back total taxes for MultiChoice Nigeria, and $342m in Value-added Tax for MultiChoice Africa which had never paid any taxes since they started business operations in Nigeria.
It said both amounts were levied upon the MultiChoice Group by the FIRS.
The House was concerned that there are ongoing arrangements to sell MultiChoice Nigeria and other MultiChoice groups about public finance and taxation.
