BEVERLY HILLS, March 12, (THEWILL) – Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of telecommunications firm MTN, Rob Shuter, has faulted the demand for $2 billion by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF).
Shuter spoke at a conference call where MTN’s 2018 annual results were presented to the country’s executives and stakeholders and accused AGF Abubakar Malami of “playing games” over the demand for the cash, which the government said was in tax arrears from the telecoms giant.
THEWILL recalls that Malami had last September written to MTN Nigeria, demanding the payment of $2 billion in tax arrears. He broke the cash down to a 10-year period for import duties, Value Added Tax (VAT) and withholding taxes on foreign imports/payments.
However, MTN Nigeria had rejected the allegation, insisting that it had fully settled all outstanding taxes and also sued the AGF.
Reiterating the telco’s stance, Shuter described the legal process as “odd,” adding that the AGF had no right to collect tax on behalf of the Federal Government.
“I think if you look at our history for complicated tax disputes they can take years, because you end up going through this tribunal, that tribunal etc,” he said.
“Now, of course what’s odd about the Nigeria situation is it’s not the Commissioner for Inland Revenue that we have the dispute with. It’s the attorney-general, who is really not mandated to collect tax.
“So, the legal process is basically saying you’re playing a game that you’re not meant to be playing. And when we talk to the tax authorities they have no particular quarrel with where we are with our various assessments.
“So, either we get the thing chucked out early on and the issue is finished, or it is just one of these lingering things that rolls around in the system for a while. And personally I don’t know which way it’s going to play out.
“I’m just absolutely adamant that we’re a responsible company, we have paid the taxes we had to pay, and the tax authorities themselves aren’t saying that we owe them anything. So I think we’ve just got to stare this one down.”
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