Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Monday, restated Federal Government position that it did not at any time grant import duty waiver on the controversial bulletproof cars sold to Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) by Coscharis Motors Limited.
She said the claim by Coscharis Motors that the government granted waiver on the N255 million cars was not true.
Okonjo-Iweala said this while testifying before the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation now investigating the controversies surrounding the purchase of the cars by NCAA, allegedly for Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.
The House Committee is headed by Nkeiruka Onyejiocha.
Coscharis Motors had at every appearance before the investigating panel claimed that the two BMW cars were part of vehicles imported on behalf of Lagos State Government upon which waivers were granted by the Federal Government.
Lagos State Government has equally denied requesting for the bulletproof cars or asking Coscharis to import one on its behalf.
The two cars sold to NCAA at the cost of $1.6 million should have attracted over N10 million import duty.
The Coordinating Minster for the Economy stated that the BMW bulletproof cars were not mentioned in the 300 units of cars, which the Lagos State Government applied for waivers for in favour of Coscharis Motors Limited.
“Honourable chair, I was asked through your letter to shed more light on the alleged waiver granted by the Ministry of Finance for the purchase of the two vehicles, and so, that is the issue I would like to address. I would like to say, honourable chair, that it is already released to the press.
“What I know of the matter is that on June 23, 2012, the Lagos State Government applied to the President for a waiver as it is normally done, for inspection charges and duty exemptions on assorted brand of vehicles in favour of Coscharis Motors for the conduct of the 18th National Sports Festival or the Eko Games.
“Having met all due requirements, the Lagos State was granted this waiver for the import of 300 units of cars of various types.
“What I know is that on this list, there was no mention of bulletproof cars, and that is all I want to say. So, no waiver was granted for bulletproof cars,” Okonjo-Iweala told the lawmakers.
Explaining the process of granting waivers, she said: “States normally apply, and once they have shown how many units, the cost of these units, how they are going to be used, and so on and so forth, we go through, and the application is made, and the waiver (is) granted, if all the parts are clear. It is under that particular law.”
Responding to a question by a member of the panel, Jerry Manwe, who wanted to know how government can recover the lost money on the import duty criminally evaded by the car dealer, Iweala declined any direct answer, as she said such question should not be directed to her office.
“I do not really feel it is in my place to give advice on this particular matter. I want to limit myself to the invitation, which was sent to me to come and speak about the waiver. Honourable chair, I think you have to refer to other authorities on that,” she said.
Also addressing a question by another lawmaker, Bethel Amadi, on the law that governs waiver, Okonjo-Iweala said: “With regards to the question, the law on the Common External Tariffs that guides our tariffs policy has a provision for His Excellency to provide waivers under certain conditions.
“In the case of this import for games, the country has no leasing business per se on a large scale that can be used to get this number of cars for officials.”
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) first disclosed that the Federal Government lost more than N10 million following the purchase of the two cars by the NCAA.
Testifying during the second day of the investigative hearing by the House Committee on Aviation on the purchase of the cars, Manasah Daniel Jatau, Deputy Comptroller General of Custom in charge of modernisation and public relations, had disclosed that Coscharis deceived the National Security Adviser (NSA) to evade the import waiver of the two vehicles.
“The duty payable was supposed to be N10,133,505.74, but that duty was not paid because the said import has an import duty exemption certificate (IDEC) number BO/R.102/S.3/V.111B/73 of 20/11/2012 issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
“This import duty exemption certificate beneficiary was issued to the Lagos State Government (the beneficiary) through Messrs Coscharis Motors Limited for the 18thNational Sports Festival (Eko 2012).
“The end user number is 000001672 of 6th June 2013, and it was issued by the office of the National Security Adviser. That is the information we have,” Jatau revealed.