Lagos Revenue Agency Disowns Arrested Fake Insurers
by admin on Sep.06, 2011, under Car insurance
Sep 05, 2011 (This Day/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) — The management of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has said that none of the six suspects arrested during the raid by the Task Force on Fake Insurance at the Ikeja Licensing Office recently is a staff of the service.
The Executive Chairman of the service, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, made this clarification in a chat with THISDAY in Lagos over the weekend.
Speaking through the Secretary of the LIRS Board, Mr. Bisi Alli, he said the two people who were erroneously labeled as staff of the service were officers of the Lagos State Motor Vehicle Administration Authority (LSMVAA).
According to him, LSMVAA is a separate agency from the LIRS, adding that it is an agency under the Ministry of Transportation and not a division under LIRS.
He observed that whereas in some other states of the federation, the motor vehicle authority, a revenue collecting agency of government is a department under the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the case is different in Lagos State.
The task force put together by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to combat the menace of fake insurers across the country apprehended six people in Ikeja recently.
Two of the arrested fake service providers who were staff of the LSMVAA were erroneously referred to staff of the LIRS by members of the task force.
The National Coordinator of the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI), Mr. Adamu Balanti led the task force during the raid.
According to him, the culprits were selling fake third party motor insurance certificates of Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Consolidated Hallmark Assurance Plc and Great Nigeria Insurance Plc respectively to unsuspecting vehicle owners at N1,000 each.
“Six persons were arrested in Lagos during the raid by NAICOM on fake insurers at the Ikeja licensing office of Lagos State Internal Revenue. They have been handed over to the police in Area F police station.
“The task force put in place by the commission was led by the National Coordinator of MDRI, Adamu Balanti.” Salami stated.
NAICOM had arrested a Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO) and seven fake insurance operators in VIO office in Mabuchi, Abuja.
The culprits were said to have sold two third party insurance policies from the illegal operators who issued the Industrial General Insurance (IGI) third party motor vehicle insurance certificates and receipts at the sum of N2,000 each with receipts indicating that they paid N5,000 for each of the certificates.
At the Area 1 Vehicle Licensing Office in Garki, Abuja, the task force arrested five people, including three ladies and two men who paraded themselves as agents of NEM Insurance Plc and Universal Insurance Plc respectively recently.
Also at the Kano Central Vehicle Inspection Office, the task force arrested four culprits who were selling fake motor third party insurance certificates to unsuspecting vehicle owners for as low as N100 each.
Copyright This Day. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
Source:
