Former National Deputy Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olabode George, has spoken about the allegations of money laundering, fraud and tax evasion being leveled against Alpha Beta Consulting.
Alpha Beta has had exclusive right, as a consultant, to collect taxes on behalf of Lagos State Government since 2002.
The former military governor of Ondo state said he hopes the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would get to the root of the matter.
Speaking with Thisday, chief George said, it was unfortunate that “those who called others thieves were the biggest criminals of all time”.
“I hope the EFCC will have the nerve to unravel it. It will be the biggest scandal that Nigeria has ever seen. It is mind-boggling and heart-breaking.
“All of them who had shared of the rot must be exposed. It will redeem the credibility of the EFCC.
“But first, they must shut the place down and a law enacted that no one must collect revenue on behalf of the state again and everyone involved must be exposed,” chief George said.
His reaction came just as Adetunji Adegboyega, who is the lawyer to the man behind the revelations and former managing director of Alpha Beta, Dapo Apara, said more disclosures concerning the alleged N160 billion Lagos taxpayers monies allegedly stolen by the company.
Apara had accused the company of tax fraud amounting to N100 billion.
In a petition to the EFCC, Apara claimed Alpha Beta, the firm with exclusive rights to monitor and collect internally generated revenue on behalf of the Lagos State “had been involved in fraud and money laundering”.
Meanwhile, EFCC has acknowledged receipt of the petition written against Alpha Beta by Apara.
It stated that it was undergoing processing and evaluation just like other petitions before deciding the next step.