TheCable

The Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS) says it has saved N3.9 billion of taxpayers’ money in “bogus consultancy fees” in the past three years.

The revenue agency said Shade Omoniyi, its executive chairman, did not mismanage funds belonging to the organisation as alleged in online publications.

Omoniyi was alleged to have diverted N8 billion from the state treasury within three years under the guise of providing consultancy services.

Reacting in a statement issued on Wednesday, Titilayomi Ogunwale, head, corporate affairs, KW-IRS, said professionalism and transparency are the hallmarks of the agency.

“Unlike in the previous regime, KW-IRS is today subject to strict fiscal discipline and monitoring at higher levels. It does not control its spending nor does it handle any funds anymore,” the statement reads.

“This is an improvement in prudence, transparency and accountability.”

Ogunwale said although the agency still lawfully engages consultancy firms, the current management has ended the era of bogus and often-opaque consultancy fees.

She said the savings from what was paid as consultancy fees in the past are now ploughed back to the public treasury for investment and development projects.

“It is this transparency and patriotic act of the present management that are being twisted by the detractors who are not used to such culture,” the statement added.

“The executive chairman and management team of KW-IRS have made corporate governance and due diligence their watchwords and will continue to enforce the doctrine to the letter in public interest.

“This possibly explains the relentless attacks on the government and KW-IRS. We are not deterred.

“The service is aware of the vast network of conspiracies to sully its image through propaganda and false equivalence as political campaigns begin.

“However, we shall remain true to our commitments to raise the bar in our service to the people of Kwara state without compromising the law or our ethics. We will not succumb to lies and blackmail of any kind.”

Ogunwale urged members of the public to continue to play their lawful part of tax payment to aid the developmental agenda of the Kwara state government.