THE
Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), on Wednesday, disclosed that the BMW
cars allegedly bought by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)
for the Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah, were imported into the
country by Coscharis Motors Limited alongside 300 cars.This is just as it said the Ministry of Finance directed that a waiver of N10.1 million be applied on the importation the cars for the 18th National Sports Festival, Eko 2012.
This came to fore at the continued investigation of the House of Representatives into the purchase of the controversial BMW cars, where the Comptroller General of NCS, Mr Abdulahi Inde Dikko, said the point of entry of the cars was Tincan Port in Lagos, adding that no import duty was collected from Coscharis Motors because one year duty waiver for 300 cars was granted by the Federal Government.
The Deputy Comptroller of Modernisation, Research and Economic Relations, Mr Manasseh Daniel Jatau, who represented the Customs boss, noted that the exemption on the two BMW cars, along with 298 others, was at the expense of the Lagos State government, who would have been the beneficiaries of the payment.
Documents presented to the committee by the NCS showed that the import duty, VAT, ETLS, CISS and Port charges waiver certificate was issued by the Ministry of Finance on November 20, 2012 and was signed by the Director of Revenue, Mrs Rose Ngozi Maranzu, on behalf of the Minister of Finance.
“I am directed to refer to your letter dated June 23, 2012, on the above subject matter and to convey the approval of Mr President and Commander-In-Chief to the Lagos State government for waiver on import duty, value added tax (VAT), ETLS, CISS and other port charges in respect of the importation of 300 units of BMW, Ford, Land Rover, Range Rover, Lexus, Mercedes, Escalade, Jaguar and buses (petrol/diesel) for use during the 18th National Sports Festival (EKO 2012), to be imported through Messrs Coscharis Motors Nigeria Limited, as indicated in the duly certified attached list,” the letter read in part.
However, justifying the price of the vehicle, the chairman of Coscharis motors, Mr Cosmos Maduka, said the price of the two bulletproof BMW cars were high due to their quality.
Shedding light on the claim of Nigeria Customs Service that the vehicles were parts of the cars imported for Eko Sports Festival in 2012, Mr Maduka claimed that it was an agreement between the Federal Government and Coscharis that when there was a major event such as COJA and EKO Games, the company would provide cars to use while the Federal Government would grant it waivers in return.
“We have a duty waiver from the Federal Government for 300 vehicles. This is not the first time we are getting this, we got it during COJA,” he said.
But the committee queried him over the change on the prices of the vehicle from the initial amount of N70 million to N127.5 million, when the company actually got waiver from the Federal Government.
The committee equally tackled the Coscharis Motors boss for deceiving the public and the government by saying that the cars were bought for NCAA, when actually they were purchased on behalf of the Lagos State government and later sold to NCAA.
The committee, in the course of the investigative hearing, also demanded an explanation on why the chassis number of one of the bullet proof cars were different from the document presented to the NCAA.
The committee had claimed that some of its members had, on Tuesday, inspected the two controversial BMW cars, only to find out that one of the chassis numbers did not match the document presented to the committee.
To this end, Mr Maduka was asked to furnish the committee with documents to explain why the chassis number of one of the cars the lawmakers saw was different from the documents presented by Coscharis and NCAA.
However, the Minister of Aviation was, again, absent at the investigative hearing, but the chairman of the committee, Honourable Nkiruka Onyejiocha, insisted that she must appear unfailingly at 10.00 a.m today.
According to her, “tomorrow’s date is sacrosanct, please communicate that to her. It is in the spirit of fair hearing that the lawmakers keep shifting the dates to enable her to state her case before the committee.”
FAAN bought 202 vehicles without due process –Senate
The Senate, on Wednesday, disclosed that the management of Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) purchased 202 operational vehicles, probably without following due process.
This was as it also confirmed that four of the vehicles were bullet-proof.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodinma, gave the confirmation at the continuation of the public hearing convened to address crisis in the aviation sector.
He said the Managing Director of FAAN, Mr George Uriesi, confirmed on oath that his agency bought 202 vehicles, out of which four were bullet-proof.
Uriesi had confessed before the six-man Senate committee, on Tuesday, that the agency was involved in the purchase of the bullet-proof cars, including two Lexus Limousines and two Prado Jeeps.
While he said the two limousines were bought at the cost of N60 million each, he added that he did not know of the cost of the two Prado Jeeps, adding that the vehicles were still in the custody of the bankers which funded the purchase.
Senator Uzodinma told newsmen in Abuja that investigation was still ongoing on the illegal bullet-proof vehicles purchase.
“Investigation is still ongoing and it will not be fair for me to preempt it. FAAN did confirm that among the operational vehicles it purchased, four of them are armoured vehicles, two for the MD and two for the minister.
“And we told them to go back and put everything in writing and make a comprehensive statements on all vehicles purchased, that they bought a total number of 202 vehicles for different operations.
“So, until they come back on Monday (next week), we cannot rush into conclusion.
“The FAAN MD said they did a funding arrangement with a commercial bank, he said.
Uzodinma promised that the committee would be thorough in its investigation of extra-budgetary spendings by the aviation parastatal.
“This investigation will be a very deep one, so that at the end of the day, we do a holistic approach and look at how the sector will be repositioned and all anomalies corrected,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Metereological Agency (NIMET) and the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) have said they should be left out of the ongoing bullet-proof cars scandal rocking the aviation sector.
Director General of NIMET, Mr Anthony Anuforom and his counterpart in the AIB, Captain Muhtar Usman, told the Senate on Wednesday that their agencies were not involved in the purchase of armoured vehicles.
They made this known when they appeared before the Senate Committee on Aviation and were asked on oath how many armoured vehicles they bought like the their sister agencies within the aviation sector.
Tribune
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