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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.
The company was incorporated on June 20, 2006, at the British Virgin Island, a notorious tax haven.
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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