The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has warned the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue, Zacch Adedeji, against his alleged refusal to honour summons.

The committee said Mr Adedeji’s action amounted to contempt of parliament.

Bamidele Salam, chairman of PAC, said this at the resumed investigative hearing of revenue leakages in Abuja on Thursday.

While reading the Riot Act against the FIRS chairman, the chairman said that this was the fourth time the committee would invite the FIRS chairman, but they failed to show up.

According to him, in addition to writing to him officially, we have also ensured that such letters were delivered personally to his mailbox and WhatsApp number.

“And we condemn and describe it as irresponsible and arrogant, and we tell him that there will be consequences if he continues this contempt of his parliament,” noted the committee chair.

He said several letters had been written to him without responses, adding that FIRS had not collected the value-added tax the federal government should collect on Remita.

He said some VAT from the revenue collected by Remitta should have gone to the FIRS but added that they would rather add the VAT together and share it with the CBN, bank, and Remitta.

He stressed that “by the time we finished our reconciliation, the money would be in the hundreds of billions,” adding that this was what they were asking the FIRS to come and collect, but the agency had refused to show up.

(NAN)