Pay N579b Stamp Duty Arrears To Private Firm, Court Orders CBN
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay N579 billion to Kasmal International Services, a private Nigerian company, for stamp duty collection services.
Kasmal provided stamp duty collection services to the Central Bank from January 1, 2015 to January 31, 2020.
Hearings revealed that the company was hired by the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) to collect a N50 fee on all receipts related to electronic transfers and counter deposits of over N1,000 issued by banks and financial institutions.
It was also agreed that for every N50 fee deducted from an electronic transaction by a bank customer, N7.5 would be paid to the private firm.
However, this percentage of remuneration was not paid to the private firms as agreed.
According to court documents, N3.8 trillion is currently held in the stamp duty collection account. The funds were also supposed to be distributed to the federal government, state and local governments, the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS), coordinating consultants, and other entities.
The CBN and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), in their opposition to the lawsuit, stated that the agency agreement the company entered into with NIPOST was illegal.
The defendants argued that only the federal, state, and local governments are entitled to distribute revenue from the federal accounts.
Presiding Judge Inyang Ekwo, who handed down the ruling on Friday, said the defendants’ argument that NIPOST has no legal authority to collect stamp tax “cannot be adopted.”
Ultimately, the judge ordered the CBN to pay more than N$579 billion plus interest thereon to Kasmar International Services Inc. within the stipulated period.
