The Anambra State transporters under the aegis of Anambra State Joint Transport Forum (ASJTF) has rejected the new revenue enforcement team known as Unified High Breed Enforcement Team (UHBET), describing its members as re-baptized touts that ripped the people off in the past.
The team was set up and inaugurated by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Retired Air Vice Marshall Ben Chiobi and Acting Chairman Anambra Internal Revenue Services, Greg Ezeilo to collect taxes from transporters.
Arising from a meeting, the transporters, in a resolution signed by its executive leaders led by Innocent Obogha, said that the new outfit were made up of members of the Ocha Brigade team and the Anambra Joint Enforcement Team ANJET that had been ripping the members off and extorting money from them.
In the resolution, the copies of which were sent to the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and the State Police Command, they stated: “We the members of this organisation wish to state clearly that we are in support of the Governor Charles Soludo drive towards ensuring accountability in the digital payment of taxes and levies to the government account.
“That we shall continue to comply with the respective payments but we reject in its totality the newly inaugurated UHBET team set up by the Special Adviser to Soludo on Security and the Chairman Anambra Internal Revenue Services due to the following reasons.
“That the formation of the new team is a re-baptized body that was made up of the Ocha Brigade and Anambra Joint Enforcement Team ANJET that have been ripping our members off in the name of revenue collection.
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“We have reported cases of our members who despite the fact that they have paid their taxes to government coffers they still forced them to pay bribe of between N30,000.00 and N100,000.00 and sometimes they are arrested and forced some members into Black Maria truck and detained for days.
“To this end we appeal to Gov. Charles Soludo to allow us collect these revenues by sending PoS Agents that we shall pay the money through them to government in order to ensure accountability.
“Similarly we have resolved to resist any attempt by the new revenue enforcement team to collect taxes from our members because they are neither accounted for nor well documented and government has lost billions of naira to the so-called revenue enforcement team.
“All members of this organisation are hereby directed that no member should have any kind of dealings with the new body in the area of payment of taxes of any kind until government provides us with the PoS Agents and operatives for us to pay direct to government coffers.”
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