Alpha Beta fights back: Accuses ex-MD of diverting N6bn, exonerates Tinubu

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Alpha Beta Consulting LLP  has accused its former Managing Director, Dapo Apara of allegedly diverting N6 billion belonging to the company for personal use.

It also exonerated the National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of any wrong doing or fraud levelled against him by Apara.

Apara, had alleged that Alpha Beta got over N150 billion as 10 per cent commission for “computing, tracking and reconciling” Lagos State’s Internally Generated Revenue since 2000.

He also claimed that the company is being operated by Tinubu, through proxies and that the business model was his brainchild.

He claimed the business was hijacked by Tinubu, who was then Lagos Governor, and who allegedly insisted on 70 per cent shareholding by his two nominees as a pre-condition to give approval.

Apara stated these in a suit he filed at the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere, seeking to recover “all the sums adjudged to be due to the claimant,” from the revenues so far made by Alpha-Beta.

However, Alpha Beta, in a statement, tagged: ‘Alpha Beta: Facts of the Matter’ on Friday punctured the allegations against it by Apara, saying that the former MD was bent on tarnishing the image of the company.

According to the tax consulting company, the fact was that Apara began making his untrue allegations in the aftermath of his removal as Managing Director of Alpha Beta for fraud and unethical practices.

It alleged that 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.

The company further alleged that 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 alleged fraudulent misconduct was discovered.

It added that 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.”

The company said the fraud was reported to the authorities and that Apara was subsequently invited to return to Nigeria from his hiding place in Dubai to render account.

It stated that to date, he had refused to do so, but that instead, he chose to embark on an aggressive smear campaign seemingly in an effort to blackmail the company into ending the investigations into his misconduct.

According to the company, the former MD’s allegations against Tinubu were false and diversionary.

It explained that the uncorroborated allegations against Tinubu by Apara, in particular, showed that he was bent only on creating sensational headlines to deflect attention from his own alleged criminal activities.

Alpha Beta added that Apara had filed many suits in Lagos and Abuja on the same matter, engaged in arbitration, the police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and other agencies.