FG Hires Asset Tracers to Monitor Wealthy Nigerians

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has disclosed that Federal Government has concluded contracting the services of firms which specialise in tracing assets to investigate some wealthy Nigerians and companies which have failed to pay the appropriate tax to the government.

Speaking last Thursday in Lagos, the Minister said these asset tracers would monitor the income status of the companies/individuals and their lifestyle and would rely on information derived from Bank Verification Number (BVN), records of property ownership, records of foreign exchange allocation, and records of company ownership from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), among others to carry out their duties.

She said, “We are using some firms to trace assets internationally. The investigators’ findings will enable us to compare the income and how much tax the company/person is really paying, and that gives us lots of information.

“But we encourage people to come up and pay their taxes willingly. You can register a high-end car. It tells me something about your income.

“So, we look at your tax returns. If you registered Mercedes E-Class and you are paying N100,000 tax, then something is wrong. Those are red flags. We now have the capacity to assess people accurately.

“We are trying to build an economy where we have oil and other things. It is going to be oil plus and wider economy,” she said at the PWC’s Business School’s lecture tagged ‘Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) Interactive Session for Executives and Business Owners.’

However, she declined mentioning names of the asset tracers hired by the government for this purpose.

But she said that findings from these firms “will enable us to compare the income and how much tax the company/person is really paying, and that gives us lots of information.”