We are indeed in the
season of revelations in
Nigeria. More cans of
worms were thrown up on
Wednesday in Abuja at
the public hearing by the
House of Reps Committee
on Aviation investigating
the controversial and
"fraudulent" N255m
bulletproof cars purchased
for the Minister of
Aviation, Stella Oduah.
But the woman at the
centre of the scandal,
Stella Oduah, dared the
committee as she again
reneged on her promise to
honour an invitation
earlier extended to her.
Fresh revelations on the
"messy" deal...
But even with the absence
of Stella Oduah, the
committee, the Nigerioa
Customs Service,
Coscharis Motors and
First Bank Nigeria Plc
made fresh revelations on
the controversial cars.
Among the fresh
revelations made public at
the hearing was the
difference in the chassis
numbers of the cars
inspected by the
committee members and
those in the transaction
documents between NCAA
and Coscharis.
Another is how the Federal
Ministry of Finance and
the National Security
Adviser were made to
believe that the two
vehicles were for the 18th
National Sports Festival
(Eko Games 2012) hosted
by Lagos State.
The Customs Service was
the first to expose the fact
that no duty was paid on
the cars because
Coscharis and its agents
obtained a duty exemption
certificate from the
Federal Ministry of
Finance.
According to the Customs,
Nigeria government lost
N10.1m due to the
waiver, which covered 300
vehicles, including the two
controversial bulletproof
cars.
The Deputy Comptroller-
General (Modernisation
and Economic Relations),
Mr. Manasa Jatau, who
testified before the panel,
disclosed that Ministry of
Finance granted the
waiver after Coscharis
wrote that it wanted to
import 300 assorted
vehicles for the EKO
Games.
He added that they
claimed that the “end
beneficiary” of the cars,
including the two
bulletproof vehicles was
the Lagos State
Government.
He hinted that the waiver
was later used as a cover
to import the bulletproof
cars to evade the payment
of import duty. He
revealed that there was
also a third bulletproof
car imported by
Coscharis .
The Customs chief who
did not name the owner of
the third bulletproof car,
added that the office of
the NSA issued a security
clearance for the two
bought for Oduah.
Asked whether a waiver
granted for a specific
purpose could be
transferred to a different
user, the Customs man
replied: “To the best of my
knowledge, end-user
certificate is not
transferable .”
The DCG said, “N10.1m
was the duty payable on
the 300 vehicles; but no
duty was paid because
there was an import
exemption certificate
issued by the Federal
Ministry of Finance. The
waiver was for a period of
one year. The waiver
showed there were 300
vehicles for the sports
festival, hosted from
November to December,
2012.
“Only three of the vehicles
were bulletproof and the
NSA gave security
certificate for their
clearance.”
Coscharis Motors was
represented at the hearing
by its Chairman, Mr.
Cosmos Maduka, and the
Managing Director, Mr.
Josiah Samuel.
The company admitted
that it got a waiver to
import vehicles for the
games, saying “it is the
usual practice for
government to approach
us to supply vehicles for
major events.”
However, efforts by the
committee to establish
how the waiver was used
to cover the bulletproof
cars, did not yield results.
Mr. Josiah Samuel parried
questions and chose
rather to advertise BMW
cars to members at the
hearing.
• Coscharis accused of
connivance
The committee accused
the company of conniving
with NCAA to inflate the
cost of the cars. But
Coscharis denied the
accusation.
On the price of the cars,
Samuel claimed that the
BMWs are “7 Series B7”
security cars, which were
costlier than their
equivalent quoted by
“independent amourers”
on the Internet.
He argued that the cars in
question had factory-fitted
armour, as against buying
a plain car before taking
it to an independent firm
to rebuild.
The Managing Director
stated that the factory
price for the grade of
BMW cars it supplied the
NCAA was €418,000,
excluding other charges.
On how the company gets
and utilises duty waivers,
Mr Samuel said most
times, the waivers would
come too close to the
date of the event they
were meant to cover.
“So, what we do is that
we sign a Memorandum
of Understanding with
government to release the
vehicles we have in our
showroom. We then use
the waiver to replace the
vehicles we have
supplied”, he added.
But, his response angered
a member of the
Committee, who accused
Coscharis of committing
“fraud.”
Hon. Manwe said a
quotation he received
from an American firm
showed that the same car
sold for N42m. He said,
“We are not fools; you
have been taking us for a
ride. You imported the
cars without paying duty,
why are you selling one
for over N127m? Are your
own bulletproof cars
manufactured in the
moon .
“You got a waiver to
import cars for the
National Sports Festival,
but you used it to import
bulletproof cars for the
NCAA. You have been
lying to us. You ripped off
the people of Nigeria
through the NCAA. That is
the summary of what is
before us here, so what
are you saying?”
But, Maduka protested,
saying his company did a
legitimate transaction. He
claimed that the whole
scandal was “politically-
motivated” for reasons he
could not explain. Maduka
added, “We followed all
the processes required.
We sold vehicles to the
NCAA and First Bank
financed it.
“We were interviewed by
the SSS (State Security
Service), the NSA; we
didn’t do any wrong.”
• More drama
More drama played out
when the Aviation
Committee’s Sub-
Committee on Inspection,
revealed to Nigerians that
the armoured cars
Coscharis supplied were
different from the ones
quoted in its letter to the
NSA.
The committee had visited
the Nnamdi Azikiwe
Airport on Tuesday to
inspect the cars. However,
members discovered that
the chassis numbers were
different from the ones
quoted in the transaction
documents .
Leader of the inspection
team, Mr. Ahmed
Chanchangi, said, “We
sighted the cars at the
airport yesterday
(Tuesday). The chassis
numbers do not
correspond with what you
said you supplied. It looks
like Nigeria was
shortchanged here again ”,
he stated.
Our role –First Bank
First Bank which was the
financier of the
transaction, confirmed
that it entered into a loan
agreement, “not lease
agreement” with the
NCAA.
The head of the bank’s
Lagos Mainland branch,
which handled the
transaction, Mr. Seyi
Ojefeso, recalled how the
NCAA approached the
bank for a loan to
purchase vehicles for its
management staff.
Ojefeso claimed that it
was possible that the
NCAA “got it mixed up”
when it described it as a
lease agreement.
He explained that the
NCAA applied for a total
loan package of N643m
to finance the purchase of
54 vehicles.
For the bulletproof cars,
he said there was a
Coscharis proforma
invoice attached to the
application in the value of
N255m.
He added, “We offered an
auto loan to the NCAA in
May to purchase cars for
its management staff.
“The application was for
N643m; we financed the
purchase of the cars
based on the application
they submitted to us.”
The committee observed
that the original request of
the NCAA to the Minister
of Aviation was N564m,
but First Bank eventually
approved a loan of N643.
When asked to explain
how the difference came
about, Seyi jefeso said
only the NCAA could
answer the question since
N564m was not in the
agency’s communication
with the bank .
FAAN also bought cars for
Oduah
The Senate Committee on
Aviation also exposed
that four of the 202
‘operational’ cars bought
by the Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria for its
top officials are armoured
vehicles.
It added that two of the
armoured vehicles were
for the Minister of
Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah
and two for the Managing
Director of FAAN, Mr.
George Uriesi.
“FAAN did confirm that
among the operational
vehicles they purchased,
four of them are armoured
vehicles, two for the
Managing Director and
two for the minister ,” the
committee Chairman,
Senator Hope Uzodinma,
told journalists on the
sidelines of the
investigation into the
crises in the aviation
industry.
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