EFCC arrests Ahmed Bello, immediate past Comptroller-General of Customs…
Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC) has arrested the immediate past Comptroller-General of Customs, Ahmed Bello and five others alleged to have been indicted in the N2.5 billion import duty scam involving the Vaswani Group owned by the Vaswani brothers.
Others arrested with Bello are Comptroller, Apapa Port, Lagos, Awata Suleiman, another official from the Area Command , who could not be identified, General Manager of Vaswani Group, Tajudeen Olalere, Lukman Huseine, a clearing agent, two servicing Customs officers.A source told THISDAY that the six persons were arrested yesterday afternoon by officials of the EFCC and detained as a result of their involvement in the scam.
EFCC spokesperson, Mr. Femi Babafemi confirmed the arrest of the six men and said that they would soon be arraigned in court.
Federal Government had earlier announced the deportation of the Vaswani brothers for allegedly defrauding it to the tune of N2.5 billion. The affected brothers, Sunil, Haresh and Mahesh, were listed as British citizens in their deportation order dated April 9, 2009, and signed by the Minister of Interior, Major General Godwin Abbe (rtd).
The same Vaswani brothers had earlier been arrested, detained and deported by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but were later given reprieve by the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua.
The former Comptroller General of Customs, a serving Assistant Comptroller General and two comptrollers had been quizzed by the EFCC over the alleged scam.
EFCC’s chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri had earlier disclosed that the accounts of the Vaswani brothers had been frozen, adding that the Federal Government might take over their businesses in Nigeria.
She added that after a thorough investigation of the alleged fraud, it was discovered that a total of nine vessels were involved in the importation of rice into the country.
The vessels are: MV Golden, MV Luckyfield, MV Goldmar, MV Tolmi, MV Glory Sanye, MV Thor Alliance, MV Almasi, MV Rama and MV Gora.
She said that the same thing was done in the case of MV Luckyfield and MV Goldmar. She added that the inference from the example of the three vessels given above is that the papers were processed in Port Harcourt days before the estimated time of departure from Thailand or the estimated time of arrival of the vessel in Nigeria.
“This is a clear case of front-loading which was done apparently to evade duty on the consignment of rice imported, using the Federal Government’s duty waiver on rice importation of 9th May to October, 2008.
“In view of the false entries made by the importers to reflect that the vessels were within Nigeria and thus should enjoy the concession by the FGN on rice importation between 7th May and 31st October, 2008, a total of N2.5billion duty payment was evaded. This amounts to criminal conspiracy and fraudulent evasion of duty punishable under section 164(a) and (b) of Customs and Excise Management Act CAPC45 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 as well as Tax Evasion and the consequent Money Laundering Liability under the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2004. The directors of the company and some customs officers involved will be prosecuted for these offences.
“Since it is obvious that these acts constitute great threat to the economy of our great nation, and the Vaswani brothers who had in the past been deported from this country for similar offence in the past, are not likely to change, we had recommended that the Vaswani brothers should be deported. Our recommendation has already been approved,” she said.
Waziri had also promised that further investigation would be conducted into the alleged evasion of tax by companies owned by the Vaswani brothers, adding that Nigerians found culpable in “this serious economic crime, including customs officers will be prosecuted.”
