From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Government yesterday sealed off a Chinese company, Hilong Oil Services and Engineering Company, over alleged tax default.
According to investigations, the Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) was at the company premises to seal it off over alleged N109.5 million tax default.
Findings indicated that the company, which renders services to oil companies in Niger Delta region, allegedly owed the state government for five years.
A Bayelsa High Court in Sagbama Division presided over by Justice E. G. Omukoro was said to have granted an ex parte motion filed by the Board against Hilong and ordered that it seal off the company premises.
The enforcement team of BIR, with full complement of security operatives, drawn from the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSDC), stormed the premises of HOSEC located at Elebele, Ogbia Local Government Area of the state and sealed it off.
There was mild drama as the enforcement team was initially denied access into the premises by soldiers guarding the company but later allowed an official of the company directed that they should be allowed in.
In an interview after the operation, BIR Director of Compliance, Mr. Robert Lokoson, said the team was at HOSEC to recover a tax debt of N109.5 million owed the state government by the company since 2013.
Lokoson said the operation was in pursuant of Section 104 of Personal Income Tax (Amendment) 2011 and an ex parte order granted by the High Court of Bayelsa State, in the Sagbama Judicial Division, holden at Yenagoa.