N255m bulletproof cars: Customs loses N10.133m

MORE shocking facts emerged yesterday on
Aviation Minister Stella Oduah’s N255 million
bulletproof cars.
Duties were not paid for the luxury cars,
Customs said. The vehicles came in free, using
waivers meant for the Lagos State Sports
Festival (Eko 2012), a House of
Representatives probe panel was told.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)
bought the cars from automobile giant
Coscharis, which battled fiercely yesterday to
defend its integrity.
Speaking at the hearing on the purchase of the
two BMW cars, a Deputy Comptroller of
Customs in charge of Modern Research and
Economic Relations, Manasa Daniel Jatau, said
N10,133,505.74, which should have come into
the coffers of the Federal Government, was
waived for Coscharis.
Jatau said the port of entry for the cars was
PTML Terminal, TinCan Island Port, Lagos.
The Port of Loading was Beanr Antwerpen Port,
Netherlands. The vessel/ carrier was Grimaldi
Line/ Grande Atlantic VO513.
According to him, duties were not paid because
of the waiver, but the “beneficiary should have
been Lagos State”.
Jatau said this was because the approval
issued from the Office of the National Security
Adviser with end user number 000001672
dated 6th of June 2013 was in the name of
Lagos State.
“The waiver was given to Lagos State for an
event that happened in 2012. Coscharis applied
to the Ministry of Finance, saying that the
beneficiary is Lagos State,” he said.
A letter from the Budget Office of the Federation
under the Ministry of Finance, dated 20
November, 2012 and addressed to the
Governor of Lagos State with the title: “Import
Duty, VAT, ETLS, CISS and Port Charges Waiver
Certificate”, and tendered before the committee
by Customs, reads in part: “I am directed to
refer to your letter dated 23rd June 2012 in the
above subject matter and to convey the
approvalof Mr. President and Commander-in-
Chief to the Lagos State Government for the
waiver of 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 attached list.”
The letter was signed by Mrs. Rose Ngozi
Marauzu, Director Revenue, for the Coordinating
Minister of the Economy and Minister of
Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Members insisted that the process had been
corrupted, particularly because of the luxury
cars on the list as well as the fact that
Coscharis sold the BMWs to NCAA at an
outrageous price, in spite of the duties
waiver.The lawmakers expressed doubt over
the cost of the cars.
Coscharis President/ Chairman Cosmas
Maduka caused a stir when in an emotional
voice he responded by saying that the probe is
politically-motivated and an attempt to smear
a reputation he has spent over 20 years to
build.
He said he had been variously described as a
money launderer and accused of contract
inflation.
Maduka said the price of the cars could be
verified from the German Embassy. He said:
“We are too small to BMW for them to risk their
reputation because of us, they will give you the
details of the price.
“The price of a car from the manufacturer will
be different from one taken to a private
armourer, but the difference between N121m
and N127m was the five per cent VAT.”
“I will not do anything that is not ethical,”
Maduka said.
On the variance in the chassis numbers quoted
on the NCAA document and what was found on
the one inspected by the Committee, Maduka
said: “We provided the chassis numbers based
on the document you sent inviting us but the
one you are quoting now, we will send the
documents for the one you saw”.
The Managing Director of Coscharis , Josiah
Samuel, said due process was observed in the
importation of the two cars. According to him,
the company has a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Federal Government on
the use of cars for events.
The company, he said, provides vehicles to the
Federal Government for event use without being
paid, but asks for waivers to replace them.”
Sometimes, it is at the twilight of the event or
after the event is over that the vehicles arrive.
“We then use the new ones to replace the ones
we have given them from our stock.” The MOU,
he said, also extends to some state
governments.
Seyi Oyefeso, Group Head in charge of Lagos
Office, spoke on the transaction between First
Bank and NCAA. According to him, the facility
the bank gave NCAA is an auto loan and not a
lease as the NCAA has claimed.
He said the bank does not involve itself in the
negotiations of their clients and the vendors,
adding that all they do is to check if the client
has the ability to repay the loan and, thereafter,
pay to the vendors based on the pro-forma
invoice tendered by the client.
Oyefeso said his bank paid Coscharis and
Metropolitan Motors only after the NCAA wrote
them that the cars had been received,
A letter to that effect, dated 16th August 2013
from NCAA with the title “Delivery of 2no.BMW
760 by Coccharis”, partly states:
“We hereby acknowledge the delivery of 2no.
BMW 760 motor vehicles by Coscharis Motors
Limited with Chassis nos: DW 68032 and DW
68044.
“In the light of the above, please effect the
payment of the sum of N255,150,000( Two
hundred and fifty- five million, one hundred and
fifty thousand naira only) to Coscharis Motors
Limited being the total cost of the 2 nos BMW
760 motor vehicles with Chassis nos: DW
68032 and DW 68044.”
The letter was signed by Aba Ejembi, Director of
Administration, for the DG/ CEO of NCAA.
The committee, thereafter, asked the Acting DG,
Joyce Nkemakolon, to provide the originating
memorandum from the NCAA overriding the
earlier approval for the procurement of the
vehicles that was missing after the Acting DG
was identified as the originator of the
procurement.
“Despite knowing that the procurement was
beyond budgetary provisions, yet you
presented the memo to the Minister. Did you
include the budgetary provisions for that sub
head in the memo for the procurement of those
two cars?” the chairperson asked.
The Acting DG did not answer.
There was also an argument over the actual
numbers of vehicles bought and approved in
the budget.
A document showed 56. Another showed 54,
but the Director of Finance, Ozigi, said anything
other than 54 operational vehicles was not to
his knowledge.
A member of the committee, Raphael Igbokwe,
said: “Then there is something between you,
the internal auditor and the procurement officer
in the Ministry of Aviation over this procurement
that you are not telling us.”
On why the NCAA insisted on going on with the
leasing after being informed by First Bank that
it was not disposed to leasing facility but loan,
the Acting DG said: “I signed the agreement
based on advice from my colleagues that
leasing and loan facilities are the same. I
thought the templates are the same.”
The Committee was, however, shocked when
the Acting DG said though he was the Chief
Executive Officer during the period under
investigation, he was not aware of the delivery
of the two vehicles.
Members accused Coscharis and NCAA of
ripping Nigerians off through the car deal.
A member noted: “One of the cars we inspected
looked like a used car, not like one that was
supplied in August this year because even one
of the tyres is almost torn, with a mileage of
over 3000 kilometers.”
Nkemakolon said he had no immediate
response to both observations.
The Chairman of the Committee said the
proceedings so far had shown that some
people would not own up to the truth and
continue to lie under oath.
She, however, advised the Minister to appear
today by 10am together with the NCAA and
Coscharis teams. “The Minister sent a letter
that she is in transit but we advise her to
appear here tomorrow (today) by 10am
because we must conclude this hearing by
12pm.
“If not, we will take that she did not want to
appear before the Committee but we have a
duty and we must put in our report before the
House by Tuesday. We will not shift this
hearing even by a minute,” Mrs Onyejeocha
warned.