THE Akwa Ibom State Government’s Internal Revenue Service has sealed three banks for allegedly failing to remit N228 million in outstanding tax liabilities to the state government.
Following an order of Notice of Distrain from the Akwa Ibom State High Court, Eket Judicial Division, the banks were shut down yesterday during an exercise led by the revenue board’s Enforcement and Recovery Department.
The affected banks were two Keystone Bank branches on Abak Road and Ikot Ekpene Road in Uyo, as well as Heritage Bank on Aka Road in Uyo.
Leo Umana, the board’s Executive Director, Enforcement and Recovery, told journalists in Uyo that Heritage Bank failed to return N100,270,910 in tax liabilities to the state, while Keystone Bank refused to pay N128,413,882 in tax duties to the state government.
“If, after 14 days, they do not comply, we have the mandate of the court to sell the property and recover the tax owed the state,” he said.
Umana noted that the banks were served with warning notifications but did not comply after several months, adding that the AKIRS had exhausted reconciliation and negotiating options with the financial institutions before resorting to judicial action.
According to him, under the legislation, banks served with a notice to distrain have 14 days to negotiate with AKIRS and have the ruling vacated.
