Alpha Beta hammers ex-MD, sets record straight on Tinubu

In response to the media report allegedly exposing Alpha Beta LLP and its chief handler Bola Tinubu, Lagos former governor, the tax consultancy firm has hit back at Dapo Apara, is former MD, who it said diverted N11bn from the company, and has been hiding in Dubai since 2018.

The firm, operating for 15 years as a consultant to Lagos government, also denied all the allegations.

Apara had in a writ of summons before a Lagos State High Court accused the compay of transferring N20 billion to private accounts.

In a statement by its Managing Director Akin Doherty of Friday, Apara was the one that was culpable as he had diverted about $5m during his time as managing director by inflating a contract which was worth about $300,000 and then diverted a separate N6bn for personal use.

Apara’s alleged crime, the firm said, has been reported to the appropriate authorities.

But the suspect himself has yet to show up, hiding in Dubai all along.

The statement described Apara as an aggrieved ex-employee bent on tarnishing the image of the company after being sacked for financial impropriety.

“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,” the statement read in part.

“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.”

On the allegations Apara made against Tinubu, Alpha Beta said they are just sensational and distractions.

“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.

Apara has 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.

While the firm insisted it has yet to be served any court summons, it is ready for any opportunity to publicly present the full picture of Apara’s misconduct, deceit and fraud and to have the matter resolved by the court.