Senate attacking Customs after agency impounded Senate President's bulletproof SUV - Report

dimeji akinloye

March 19, 2017 11:19 AM

On January 11, 2017, Customs officers in Lagos reportedly intercepted and impounded a Range Rover SUV, which they claimed belongs to Saraki, over unpaid customs duty.

It has emerged that the ongoing scrutiny of the Nigerian Customs Service leadership by the Senate stemmed from the seizure of the Senate President,

According to Sahara Reporters, Customs officers in Lagos had on January 11, 2017, intercepted and impounded the SUV, which they claimed belongs to Saraki, over unpaid customs duty.

The Vehicle, with chassis number “SALGV3TF3EA190243, is said to be valued for N298 million, which means that customs duty of N74 million should have been paid on it.

It was reported that upon interception, the driver of the SUV confirmed Saraki owns it.

He was said to have presented a letter from the National Assembly liaison office in Lagos, indicating that the driver was authorized to drive the Senate President's official Range Rover bulletproof car.

Citing undisclosed sources, the online news medium reported that when the driver was asked to show evidence of duty payment and an end-user certificate from the office of the National Security Adviser, a document required for bulletproof vehicles, the driver presented fake documents.

The purported fake documents provided by the driver indicated that a customs duty of N8 million was paid on the car, the report said.

But Customs officials reportedly said that firstly, the customs duty was extremely low, and secondly, they determined that the presented document itself was fake on which basis the vehicle was seized.

It was gathered that later that day, the Senate sent a letter signed by one Architect O.A. Ojo acting as the Secretary of Procurement, Estate, and Works of the National Assembly, requesting the release of the vehicle, which he claimed belongs to the convoy of the Senate.

In its response, the Nigerian Customs was said to have sent a letter dated January 24, 2017 and signed by Othman A.S, Comptroller, Import and Export, in which it again requested for the end user certificate as well as evidence of proper clearance before the vehicle could be released.

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The report said the National Assembly or Saraki were unable to provide the required documents.

Further investigations, however, revealed that the document the used to clear the impounded SUV might not belong to the vehicle or was forged.

Also, Saraki and the National Assembly allegedly undervalued the car by more than 50% to enable them to avoid paying proper customs duty.

Further checks showed that the vehicle was manufactured in the UK in 2014, with the price tag of $142,000 - but the importer gave the value as $64,516.

It was shortly after the seizure of the SUV that Senate mounted pressure on the Nigerian Customs to stops any further efforts to confiscate vehicles found to have evaded payment of duties.

This led to the summon of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, to appear before the Senate.

The Senate also ordered Ali to wear his official uniform when he appears before the upper chamber.

The Customs boss, however, defied the order to wear the Customs uniform, noting that he was not appointed to wear uniform.

dimeji akinloye