Ayounger brother to the Speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Habib Garba Rikiji, has been suspended by the state Internal Revenue Board for alleged fraud running into millions of naira.
Rikiji was suspended by the board, along with two other allegedly indicted staff, Mahmuda Garba and Mustapha Jangebe.
Our correspondent gathered that the speaker’s younger brother and his two accomplices, now suspended from work, had been issuing fake receipts to tax payers in the state.
Investigations carried out by our correspondent revealed that some staff of the board had been in the habit of issuing fake receipts to tax payers, particularly the contractors handling government projects and diverting the money into their private pockets.
A source further revealed that some staff of the board were also in the habit of demanding cash from tax payers and issuing them with fake receipts in violation of the Treasury Single Account policy of the government.
Our correspondent also gathered from a source that the board had made a u-turn and had begun planning to re-engage the three suspended staff following a threat by them to expose top officials of the board involved in the scandal.
A staff of the board, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the suspended staff had defended their involvement in the scandal before the Chairman of the board, Alhaji Isa Muhammad Anka, explaining that they were acting on the “orders from above.”
All efforts by our correspondent to hear from the board chairman proved abortive, as he, at first, promised to speak on the issue, but later declined to comment.
