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.
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 connivanceThe 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 dramaMore 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 BankFirst 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 OduahThe 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.
