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EFCC Investigating FIRS Staff Over Fraudulent Payment Of Travel Allowance

It was observed that the money being paid to the staff were not funds received as tax, but the support services funds of the organisation.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is interrogating some top officials of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for receiving billions of Naira as travel allowance without embarking on any trip.

According to a report by Daily Trust, EFCC acted based on a petition it received informing the anti-graft agency of the activities in FIRS.

It was observed that the money being paid to the staff were not funds received as tax, but the support services funds of the organisation.

Peter Hena, Head of the Coordinator Support Services Group, who allegedly authorized the payment has absconded the country.

He went on leave and sent his resignation letter to FIRS, claiming he is sick and needs medical treatment abroad.

A source who spoke to the newspaper said: “For instance, some of the staff were questioned on why they received huge amounts of money in their accounts, but evidence from the staff attendance register showed that they did not travel.

“Many of them explained how they remitted the money to a particular account and kept a percentage.”

It was gathered that EFCC's investigators uncovered the irregularities from checking the software payroll system of staff of the organisation and the attendance registers.

It was revealed that many top management officials took advantage of the accountability deficiency in the organisation to carry out the fraudulent transactions.

The residences of some of the directors were searched and some of them have been detained by the EFCC.