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.
Source: The Nation