Abuja firm demands apology from ICPC over ‘illegal invasion’

Pinnacle Communications Ltd has asked the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to apologise for allegedly invading its office in Abuja.

In a statement on Wednesday, the firm also denied being indebted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as insinuated by the ICPC.

The company, whose chairman is one of the defendants in the alleged N2.5 billion case involving the director-general of the National Broadcasting Commission, has alleged that ICPC operatives invaded its office in Abuja in a bid to intimidate them.

But the anti-graft agency denied the allegation via a letter addressed to the management of the company and signed by Akeem Lawal, its director of operations.

It had said its operatives stumbled on buildings belonging to the firm while investigating an unrelated case of tax evasion.

Reacting via the statement, Abayomi Oyelola, counsel to the communications firm, accused the ICPC of lying about the alleged invasion.

“The commission’s claims in the said responses are grossly inaccurate, misleading and aimed to hurt Pinnacle’s impeccable image known to all and sundry,” he said.

“For the record, Pinnacle Communication is not a tax defaulter in any way. The company’s tax papers are up to date. This is easy for the commission to verify. So ICPC lied by claiming that its men were at Pinnacle’s office on tax issue.”

Oyelola further said Pinnacle’s office is not on any of the two plots which the ICPC was said to have claimed it was to investigate on the request of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

He said it clear that the commission’s operatives “did not stumble on the firm’s property as claimed but rather the operatives intentionally invaded Pinnacle.”

“In any event, it is vitally imperative to state that Pinnacle communications, in whom ownership of the premises invaded by ICPC is vested is NOT ON THE RADAR of FIRS,” the statement stated.

“Pinnacle Communications is both a respectable and humble entity with strong beliefs in the assuaging power and effect of an apology from anyone and entity that has disparaged it.

“We, therefore, encourage the commission, since it has admitted the invasion to swallow the proverbial humble pie and tender an apology as Pinnacle Communications demands.”