The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has disclosed that it has directed banks to freeze the accounts of media entertainment firm MultiChoice Africa and its Nigerian subsidiary for breaching agreements and denying access to their records for auditing.
It is important to clarify that the firms are part of South African-headquartered MultiChoice Group, which provides television and other entertainment services across Africa.
The Revenue Service in a statement made available to newsmen, said the banks would have to recover ₦1.8-trillion naira (R63-billion) in outstanding tax obligations from MultiChoice Africa and MultiChoice Nigeria.
The tax agency said “It was discovered that the companies persistently breached all agreements and undertakings with the service, they would not promptly respond to correspondences, they lacked data integrity, and are not transparent as they continually deny Firs access to their records”.
When contacted for comments, MultiChoice Group said in e-mailed that it has read the media reports and the statements made by FIRS.
However, the group said “MultiChoice Nigeria has not received any notification from Firs. Multichoice. Nigeria respects and is comfortable that it complies with the tax laws of Nigeria.
“We have been and are currently in discussion with Firs regarding their concerns and believe that we will be able to resolve the matter amicably.”
