BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

BENIN CITY— Edo State Government, has warned that vehicles registered through third parties or agents risk fines or jail terms, just as it announced the suspension of its policy of enforcement of three years tax clearance certificate for prospective plate number applicants.

Chairman of Edo State Board of Internal Revenue, Chief Oseni Elama, in Benin City, yesterday, said that it was criminal and illegal to register vehicles without personal presence at the licensing office as the biometric data of those applicants would not be captured in the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC databank, meaning that such number plates were criminally obtained.

He said “If you find out that you obtained your number plates through a third party or an agent, which we refer to as touts and you biometric data was not captured, it is criminal. If you have any such number plate, it is not only fake, it was acquired illegally and it is a criminal offence. So, you have to come with the number plates and the vehicles to our office for us to capture those information, but you have to pay for the number plates.”

He disclosed that the suspension on tax clearance demand was to enable all motorists yet to obtain the new number plates to beat the June, 2014 deadline as announced by the FRSC.