Two persons, Omotayo Ojo and Akinniyi Akinola are now in police net following their indictment for illegal printing of fake revenue receipts with which they have allegedly defrauded the Ekiti State Government huge sums of money.
Ojo, a staff of the Board of Internal Revenue, works in the Ikere-Ekiti office of the board.
While speaking on the development at the Government House, the State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, said it was regrettable that despite the efforts of the state government to improve its revenue base, the situation was being compounded by unscrupulous elements in the system.
“The state government is making strenuous efforts at shoring up our revenue base in face of the poor federal allocation, but some people are sabotaging the efforts. We have had cases of people being issued fake tax clearance certificates and such innocent people being embarrassed in various embassies.
“We will not allow criminal elements to sabotage our efforts and the Auditor-General and the Head of Service have been mandated to sanitise the place. These suspects will be handed over to the police for thorough investigation and those who are also into such sharp practices would be dealt with. I implore our people not to patronize touts and pay to appropriate government bank accounts,” he said.
While being quizzed, Ojo, who said he was introduced into the shady deal by some people.
He confessed that he had printed many copies of the receipts issued to tipper drivers for their mandatory N500 levy per trip.
He added that he had earlier served in some locations before he was posted to Ikere-Ekiti where he contacted Akinola to help him print fake revenue receipts.
Akinola on his part confessed that he printed the document for Ojo based on his demand.
The suspects were later handed over to the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, Mr Etop John James.
Lere Olayinka