Makurdi – Mr Andrew Ayabam, the former Executive Chairman, Board of Internal Revenue Service (BIRS), Benue state, has denied misappropriating N71 million from the coffers of the board during his tenure as chairman.
Testifying before the Benue Commission of Inquiry on Monday in Makurdi, Ayabam explained that the N60 million he withdrew from the board’s account was his accrued bonus between May and June 2010.
He said that the N11 million he withdrew from the account was an IOU he took from the establishment and had since reconciled the account.
Ayabam was alleged to have collected N10 million in Oct 2010 and N1 million in Nov 2010 as loans from BIRS.
He explained that what he took was not a loan but an IOU in lieu of his allowances.
The former tax boss argued that if he had actually collected loan there would have been documents to show as evidence.
He said that he was entitled to furniture allowance, bonus and travel allowance.
The former chairman said that the IOUs he took during his tenure had been settled recently in a judgment delivered on Oct 22, 2015 at the National Industrial Court where parties were asked to settle out-of-court.
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He tendered the terms of out-of-court settlement between him and the state government and four others as evidence before the commission which was admitted and marked as exhibit.
Ayabam told members of the Commission of Inquiry that he was also entitled to certain bonuses as indicated in his appointment letter.
He said that his appointment made allowance for certain benefits such as bonuses each time he overshot his targets.
He said that he earned bonus of N60 million by exceeding the revenue target of N500 million set for him by the administration of Mr Gabriel Suswam, within the months of May and June 2010.
He said that the government agreed to pay him 10 per cent of any extra amount he made above the N500 million.
Ayabam said he requested for the payment of his bonuses from the then Commissioner of Finance, Mr Omadachi Oklobia, who promptly authorized the payment.
However, the former chairman was not forthcoming with explanation on how tax payers’ monies were expended; saying ex Gov Suswam engaged in Direct Intervention Projects with the monies. (NAN)