Tag Archives: Punish

Panama Seeks To Punish Countries That Blacklist It As ‘Tax Haven’

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The government of Panama on Tuesday announced a bill that would take a range of steps against countries that put it on their blacklists of “tax havens” in the wake of the Panama Papers revelations.

The legislation would impose tax, trade and migration measures on companies or individuals from those countries that “engage in practices that discriminate or imply damage to economic interests” of Panama, a statement said.

The move could be directed at France, which put Panama back on its national blacklist of tax havens in April following the Panama Papers reports, which showed how some of the world’s wealthy stashed assets in offshore firms created by the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Colombia could also be targeted for keeping tariffs on Panama textile imports despite a World Trade Organization ruling calling for them to be scrapped.

Panama has vowed to improve its fight against money laundering and tax evasion, but has fallen short of regulations the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development wants to see adopted internationally.

The bill will be put to Panama’s Congress for debate and a vote.

Credit: Guardian

Buhari: FG Will Punish Banks, Importers Caught Round-tripping

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President Muhammadu Buhari has said that banks, importers and individuals involved in round-tripping of dollars they buy from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) official market and resell in the parallel market will be made to face the law when caught.

The president gave the warning in an interview monitored on Al Jazeera television at the weekend.

Forex round-tripping or arbitrage refers to a process whereby funds obtained from the official forex market (at lower rates) and diverted to other markets and sold at a higher rate by forex dealer, banks and end users.

There has been strong suspicion that some banks and other end users that get weekly forex allocations from the CBN divert some of the dollar cash to the parallel market because of the wide gap between the official and parallel markets.

In his response to a question on alleged round-tripping in the forex market, the president said: “I agree with you, but we are going to check that and we are going to apply sanctions to anybody that is given dollars by the central bank for the importation of essential raw materials, for example pharmaceutical products, and because he can make N100 more, goes to the parallel market to sell it. We will pursue them and obviously would punish them.”

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, recently said the central bank was on the lookout to penalise banks found in such unhealthy practice.

He also warned that if any bank was caught in the act, it is not just the institution that would be penalised, its management would also be severely punished.

Continuing, Buhari reiterated his stance against the devaluation of the naira, maintaining that “countries that play around with their currencies are countries that have enormous production capacity”.

“They have factories in place, they have infrastructure in terms of power, and their communications and security are actually perfect,” he said.

According to him, Nigeria virtually imports everything, from rice to toothpicks, adding: “If we don’t have the money for importing those things, what is the value in further devaluing the naira?”

He pointed out that in terms of the country’s exchange rate policy, national interest supersedes the interest of multilateral agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Credit: Thisday

Punish FG Officials, Banks Over 23,000 Ghost Workers- Senate

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The Senate on Thursday declared its support for the move by the Ministry of Finance to prosecute civil servants found culpable in the payment of salaries and remuneration to 23,000 ghost workers over the years.

The Chairman Senate Committee on Finance, Senator John Enoh, who said this at a budget defence session with the Ministry of Finance, asked the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, to ensure the immediate prosecution of the suspects being accused of alleged involvement in the scam.

He also urged the ministry to recover the money they had stolen.

Adeosun told the committee that her ministry would prosecute the affected workers and the banks officials who colluded with them.

Credit: Punch

Being Out Of School To Be A Crime In Sokoto

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Governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, has said that his administration would criminalise and punish parents whose children are nabbed outside during school hours.

Tambuwal disclosed this, on Tuesday, while speaking at the on-going 55th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), taking place in Abuja.

He said he would implement fully the Child Rights Act, stop child labour and other child abuses, adding that the services of lawyers were crucial to national development and that lawyers were needed more in the legislative arm of government.

Credit: dailytimes

Nigerian Army Vows To Punish Soldiers Caught On Camera Maltreating Civilian

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The Nigerian Army has vowed to punish its personnel who were caught on camera Saturday mistreating civilians they said are suspected armed robbers.

A photograph of the incident was published in the Monday edition of Abuja-based Daily Trust newspaper.

The shocking photograph was made public at a time the Nigerian military is battling to extricate itself from allegations of gross human rights abuses.

The spokesperson for the Army, Sani Usman, a colonel, said the action of the soldiers caught maltreating civilians on Saturday has done incalculable damage to the image of the service, and is at variance with military ethics and professionalism.

Mr. Usman said the perpetrators had been identified and would be punished accordingly.

The Army spokesperson however criticised Daily Trust over what it called “poor and worrisome editorial judgement by giving this misdemeanour prominence in their paper”.

“Alerting appropriate Nigerian Army authorities would have been a better option that will be met with prompt response,” Mr. Sani said.

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Lagos APC Calls Saraki, Dogara Betrayers, Calls For Disciplinary Sanction

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The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has urged the national leadership of the party to punish the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, for anti-party activities.

Lagos APC, in a statement by its publicity secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said it was saddening that Saraki could ‘jump into bed’ with the Peoples Democratic Party in his desperation for power.

Igbokwe described the re-election of Senator Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President as an embarrassment to the APC.

The statement read, “The purported election of Senator Saraki and Dogara as the Senate President and Speaker respectively, is a clear transgression of both the tenets of democracy and party politics. At this early stage, the APC must come down strongly to mete out sanctions and punishments against treacherous members that perpetrated this ugly charade at this early stage of the party’s life and history.

“As a party and given the circumstances of our present politics, the APC stands no risk of being eroded by this treachery. Rather, we see the clear road to enforce discipline in the treacherous conduct of some members of the National Assembly.

“We see the need for the party to wield the big stick now to send a message home that treachery will not profit those who might want to cash in on similar circumstances to spite the party and cash personal benefits in the long run. It is certain that these betrayers are not members of the APC and we feel the party must weigh in now and discipline these betrayers.”

Credit: punchng