Tinubu: Alpha Beta fights back, accuses Apara of diverting N6bn

Tax consultancy firm, Alpha Beta LLP, has denied allegations levelled against it by its former Managing Director, Dapo Apara.

Indeed, the firm accused its former boss of diverting N6bn from the company.

Apara had in a case filed before a Lagos State High Court accused the company of working for a former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, making some curious payments, totalling N20bn to several private accounts.

Alpha Beta has over 15 years been involved in tax monitoring and reconciliation on behalf of the Lagos State Government and collects commission for the assignment.

But the firm in a statement on Friday by its Managing Director, Akin Doherty, said that Apara had during his time as managing director inflated a $300,000 contract to divert $5m contract as well as N6bn.

It claimed that the alleged fraud had been reported to the appropriate authorities.

The statement titled, ‘Alpha Beta: Facts of the Matter’, said Apara, was sacked from the company and that this must have infuriated him towards denting the image of the company.

It stated, “The fact is that Dapo Apara began making his untrue allegations in the aftermath of his removal as managing director of Alpha Beta for fraud and unethical practices. While he was MD, Apara used his position to siphon huge sums of money from the company including but not limited to fraudulently converting $5m; money allegedly used to pay for cloud based services that were eventually discovered to be worth less than $300,000.

“Mr Apara, who was a signatory to all the bank accounts of Alpha Beta from inception until his removal, received all his payments and entitlements until June 2018 when he was removed after his fraudulent misconduct was discovered.

“In July 2018 further evidence of his fraudulent and unethical practices was uncovered, including the revelation that he converted approximately N6bn belonging to Alpha Beta to his personal use.

“This fraud was reported to the authorities and Mr Apara was subsequently invited to return to Nigeria from his hiding place in Dubai to render account. To date, he has refused to do so. Instead, Mr Apara chose to embark on an aggressive smear campaign seemingly in an effort to blackmail us into ending the investigations into his misconduct.”

The firm dismissed Apara’s allegations against Tinubu, describing them as spurious and diversionary.

“The uncorroborated allegations against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu by Dapo Apara, in particular, show that he is bent only on creating sensational headlines to deflect attention from his own criminal activities,” it said.