By Chinelo Obogo
Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS) on Tuesday sealed some offices belonging to Aero Contractors following the airline’s non-remittance of about N350 million in taxes.
Daily Sun gathered that after a debt review by FIRS, the offices of the airline’s managing director, finance, legal and human resource department were sealed.
Daily Sun gathered that the tax agency had written Aero several times over its old and new debts but the airline didn’t respond to any of its letters. The debt consists of remittances before and after the airline was taken over by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria ( AMCON) and placed under receivership. Another source stated that the airline had paid N50million of the debt last year but the FIRS still came without notification and sealed some offices. When reached for comments, a representative of the airline said: “As a veteran in this industry, you should be blasting FIRS for sealing a company owned by the Federal Government based on pre receivership debts.’’ Last week, the Air Transport Employees(NUATE) and the Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) alleged that there are plans to liquidate the airline and dispose of its assets.
The unions also accused the management of the airline of planning to cut down its staff strength by 40 per cent without first negotiating terms of redundancy despite its inability to complete redundancy payment of those it asked to stay home since 2016.