Tax consultancy firm, Alpha Beta LLP, has denied allegations
levelled against it by its former Managing Director, Dapo Apara, adding that he
in fact diverted N6bn from the company.
Apara had in a writ of summons before a Lagos State High
Court accused the company of being controlled by a former Lagos State Governor,
Bola Tinubu, and making mysterious payments of over N20bn to several private
accounts.
Responding on Friday, however, Alpha Beta said in a
statement by its Managing Director, Akin Doherty, that Apara was the one that
was culpable as he had diverted about $5m during his time as managing director
by inflating a contract which was worth about $300,000 and then diverted a
separate N6bn to personal use.
The firm said it had reported Apara’s alleged fraud to the
appropriate authorities but he had refused to show up and rather remained in
Dubai.
In the statement titled, ‘Alpha Beta: Facts of the Matter’, the
firm said Apara was an aggrieved ex-employee who was bent on tarnishing the
image of the company after being sacked for financial impropriety.
It read in part, “The fact is that Dapo Apara began making
his untrue allegations in the aftermath of his removal as Managing Director of
Alpha Beta for fraud and unethical practices. While he was MD, Apara used his
position to siphon huge sums of money from the company including but not
limited to fraudulently converting $5m; money allegedly used to pay for cloud
based services that were eventually discovered to be worth less than $300,000.
“Mr. Apara, who was a signatory to all the bank accounts of
Alpha Beta from inception until his removal, received all his payments and
entitlements until June 2018 when he was removed after his fraudulent
misconduct was discovered.
“In July 2018 further evidence of his fraudulent and
unethical practices was uncovered, including the revelation that he converted
approximately N6bn belonging to Alpha Beta to his personal use.
“This fraud was reported to the authorities and Mr. Apara
was subsequently invited to return to Nigeria from his hiding place in Dubai to
render account. To date, he has refused to do so. Instead, Mr. Apara chose to
embark on an aggressive smear campaign seemingly in an effort to blackmail us
into ending the investigations into his misconduct.”
The firm said Apara’s allegations levelled against Tinubu
were specious and diversionary.
“The uncorroborated allegations against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
by Dapo Apara, in particular, show that he is bent only on creating sensational
headlines to deflect attention from his own criminal activities,” it said.
According to Alpha Beta, Apara has filed many suits in Lagos
and Abuja on the same matter, engaged in arbitration, the police, the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, and other agencies.
It said in all that time, he has steadfastly refused to
honour all invitations by the authorities to return to Nigeria and account for
the huge funds he misappropriated.
The firm stated that although it had not been served with the court summons, it looked forward to the opportunity of publicly presenting the full picture of Apara’s misconduct, deceit and fraud and to have the matter resolved by the court once and for all.
Alpha Beta monitors and reconciles tax on behalf of the
Lagos State Government for a commission, a contract it has been executing for
over 15 years.
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😃 Na small small... truth go come out☹️
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