Akwa Ibom State government has sued oil giant, Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), and some of its directors over the non-remittance of its personal income tax to the Board of Internal Revenue.
The directors of the company standing trial in the suit No. REU/254C/2006 are Messrs Cyril Odu, Udom Inoyo, Isaac Komolafe, Etta Amba and Patrick Effiong.
Mobil is facing a one-count charge of “failing, omitting or neglecting to deduct or deducting without remitting” to the Akwa Ibom State government Personal Income Taxes of its employees as provided for under section 81 of the Personal Income Tax Act of 1993, thus committing offence punishable under section 81(1) of the same Act.
An oil servicing company, Global Pipeline Plus Nigeria Limited, was also charged with the same offence while its directors, Joseph Adekunle, Frank Grobler and Seaton Hugh, got three-count charge each for tax evasion.
They were equally charged with making incorrect returns by omitting or underestimating the incomes of their employees liable to tax between 1988 and 2003 under Personal Income Tax Act of 1993 and thus committing an offence punishable under Section 81 of the said Act.
The third charge against the directors is that they and their fellow directors, officers or employees of the two companies, believed to be at large, failed to give information on the emolument of their employees from1998 to 2003, thereby misleading the state Board of Internal Revenue in the performance of its duties.
When the cases came up for hearing on Monday, neither the MPN directors nor their counterparts from Global Pipeline were in court. Counsel to the state government, Ekaette Henry, urged the court to give its judgment, insisting that all the principal actors in the case had been duly served. But counsel to the MPN, Mr Ime Umanah, however, appealed that his clients be given time to appear physically in court, saying the cases were criminal in nature.
The Magistrate, Mr Bennett Ilaumoh, issued a bench warrant compelling the directors to appear in court during the next adjourned dates being November 9, 2006 for Mobil and November 23, 2006 for Global Pipeline.