Fidelis Soriwei and Eniola Akinkuotu
An offshore company, Chillon Consultancy
Limited, has been linked to the General Overseer of The Synagogue
Church of All Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua; and his wife, Evelyn.
German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung,
had last week released the PanamaPapers, the biggest leak in the
history of data journalism, publishing online 11.5 million documents
from Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, which showed how some
prominent people across the world criminally hid money using anonymous
shell corporations across the world.
The Panamanian law firm, regarded as one
of the world’s most secretive companies, according to the documents,
has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.
According to documents sighted by Nigerian online medium, Premium Times,
Joshua and his wife own one ordinary share each, although the company,
with registration number 1033675, is authorised to issue a maximum
“50,000 no par value shares of a single class.”
It remains unclear what businesses
Joshua transacted with the shell company which has no physical presence
in Tortola, the largest and most inhabited island on the British Virgin
Island.
Chillon Consultancy Limited uses the
office address of its registered agent, Mossack Fonseca (Akara Bldg., 24
De Castro Street, Wickhams Cay 1, Road Town, Tortola) as its contact
information on the British Virgin Island.
However, the spokesman for Joshua, Mr.
Iwelunmor Patrick, denied the report, describing it as an attempt to
smear the good name of the cleric.
He said the only two institutions linked to Joshua were SCOAN and Emmanuel TV.
Iwelumor said, “The report is a big lie.
Prophet T.B. Joshua is too refined to soil his hands. These reports
were written by some unscrupulous online media to smear the good name of
the cleric. To the best of my knowledge, apart from Emmanuel TV and SCOAN, Prophet T.B. Joshua is not running any institution.
“Even these institutions are not for profit. So, members of the public are advised to disregard the report.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress
has called on the Federal Government to commence immediate investigation
into those mentioned in connection with the Panama tax evasion scandal.
The President and General Secretary of
the NLC, Mr. Ayuba Wabba and Dr. Peter Ezo-Eson, respectively, stated in
a communique of the National Working Committee of the congress issued
on Monday that the government should also look into those mentioned in
relation to other scandals in the society.
The NLC also called on African leaders
to come up with tougher legislations against illicit cash flow out of
the continent through tax evasion and other forms of criminality as
shown by the recent PanamaPapers leaks.
The congress said that the Panama tax
scandal only confirmed the findings of Thabo Mbeki Panel on Illicit
Financial Flows out of Africa.
The Mbeki panel stated that the issue of
illicit financial flow would further undermine government’s efforts at
economic restoration, pauperise economies and deepen poverty in the
continent.
The communique urged African leaders to
liaise with the international community to ensure a speedy
implementation of the recommendations of the Mbeki panel.
The NLC also threatened to organise
street protests against state governments, ministries, departments and
agencies that had been found to be owing workers’ salaries and pensions.
Wabba and Ozo-Eson said that the
situation had caused avoidable hardships and embarrassment to the
workers, pensioners and members of their families.
They also noted that the non-payment of salaries and pensions were “reprehensible, criminal and unacceptable.”
They said that the congress would liaise
with its affiliate unions, state councils, civil society bodies to
engage those owing workers’ salaries in the streets.
The labour leaders also appealed to the
police authorities and those in charge of the recruitment exercise for
10,000 policemen to ensure that it was carried out in a fair and
transparent manner.
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