. We’re not part of the deal – Lagos govt
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!. ‘Finance ministry granted N10m waiver to Coscharis’
. Investigation politically motivated – Coscharis
. FAAN: ‘We also bought 2 armoured cars for Oduah’
The N255 million bulletproof cars purchased by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for aviation minister Stella Oduah were imported in the name of the Lagos State government last year, the committee investigating thematter heard yesterday.
Deputy Controller General of the Nigeria Customs Service Manasa Daniel Jatau revealed this yesterday in the ongoing probe by the House of Representatives committee on aviation.
Jatau who is DCG in charge of modernization, research and economic relations said Coscharis Motors which requested for the importation of the cars said they were to be used for the 18th National Sports Festival that was held in Lagos last year.
He said the vehicles cleared for that purpose for Coscharis were 300 in number, three of which were said to be armoured cars and the amount to be paid as duty at that time was N10.133 million.
He said the waiver granted covered the period of one year after which it would expire, maintaining that the Nigeria Customs was just an implementer of the laws and policies of government. He said however that because the cars were imported in the name of the Lagos State Government, a duty exemption letter was obtained by Coscharis from the minister of finance which made the service to forego the N10m duty payable.
When asked if it was proper for cars cleared by the Customs for a defined end user to be diverted to another user, DCG Jatau said to the best of his knowledge it was wrong, but added that Customs Service lack the mandate to know if such cars are transferred to another user after being cleared.
Meanwhile the Lagos government yesterday denied knowledge of the importation of the armoured cars in question.
A senior government official who craved anonymity said to the best of his knowledge Lagos state was not part of the deal.
“We are not part of the deal’, he said but promised to investigate further and get back to our reporter. He never did up to the time of going to press.
Last week, NCAA claimed it bought the cars from Coscharis for its operations and inspection of perimeter fences in the 22 airports across the country based on lease financing agreement it entered with First Bank Plc which is financing the transaction.
But in its submission to the committee yesterday, First Bank Plc said based on the agreement it entered with NCAA, it was told that the cars were purchased for use by management staff. It also revealed that it was a loan agreement it entered with NCAA and not lease financing.
Sheyi Oyefeso who is the group head, retail services of First Bank said the amount involved was N643m for two armoured cars and 52 other vehicles, adding that the money paid to both Coscharis and Metropolitan Motors who are involved in the transaction.
He said the loan was paid in August and the cars delivered to NCAA, adding that they were rightly inspected by the bank, which at the moment is in custody of the spare keys in case of any default by NCAA which is required to pay in 36 months.
