By Ezrel Tabiowo Abuja-
Th e Senate, yesterday, threatened to issue warrant of arrest on Chief Executive Offi cer (CEO) of Glo Mobile, Chief Mike Adenuga, and other fi rms that failed to honour its invitation on alleged complicity in a N30 trillion revenue probe. Equally faced with the threat are the CEOs of British American Tobacco Company, CCEC Nigeria Ltd, Dana Group, African Wire and Allied Ltd, Admiral Overseas Nigeria Ltd and Aarti Steel Nigeria Limited. Others are Gagsel International, Fries Land Capina, Etco Nigeria Ltd, Encounter Ltd, Edic Chemicals &Allied Distributors Ltd, Don Climax Group, De United Foods Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff and Marine Transport, Senator Hope Uzodinma, gave the warning at an investigative meeting with some of the fi rms yesterday in Abuja. He described the fi rms’ refusal to honour the invitation as disrespect of the institution of the National Assembly and would not be tolerated, adding that of the 30 fi rms invited between Tuesday and Wednesday, only 14 appeared before the committee.
“It is only in Nigeria that the Senate will invite an entity for an interactive session, particularly in a case that bothers on investigation, fi nancial mismanagement, infractions and the company will be complacent. Th e companies will not be willing to come or sometimes send junior offi cers. “I have directed and we are working with security agencies, that any company that is invited and has something to explain and refuses to appear, we will issue a warrant for such persons to be arrested. We are giving them the fi nal opportunity to appear and if they failed, we will issue a warrant.” Continuing, he said: “In this investigation, we are working with the Nigeria Police Force.
Th is is because we are using their facilities to process some of our data so that the information we will present to the public will be information with high integrity that will not be questioned by anybody. We have directed that they must come tomorrow, Th ursday unfailingly.” Addressing the fi rms who were present at the meeting, Uzodinma said, they would be given documents arising from the investigation carried out by the committee to study and comply. He said the documents specifi ed the various forms of infractions carried out by each of the fi rms involved in the import and export value chain. “We have put everything in diff erent categories, and for category one; it is unutilised Form M. You applied for Form M and approval and allocation were given.
But rather than import with the allocation, God knows what happened because you did not do that. “Th en pre-arrival assessment report that was issued, you abandoned them, yet you took your goods. We do not know how you took the goods away and the money is still open in the data base. “Th en, Single Goods Declarations (SGDs) which you people did by yourself, then abandoned and yet collected your goods. Th ese are all indicated in the documents we have handed over to you. “So, if there are such legitimate approvals, we want to see a copy, otherwise, we will assume that they were not cancelled in which case we will be expecting you to make payment.
Th en classifi cation; we have cases where a prearrival assessment is carried out and a particular item is classifi ed under a particular HS (Tariff Handbook) Code.” He added: “When you now go to SGD, if it is a classifi cation of 35 percent, you see that you declared fi ve per cent instead of the 35 per cent that was issued to you. “So, we have worked out the diff erence unless there is evidence that what you shipped were no longer what came to Nigeria which we doubt. Th en wrong classifi cation is another category. Th at one deals directly with those bringing vehicles with reverse gear and you declare them as CKD. “For instance, Dag Motorcycle Industries Ltd, when you bring in tricycles which has reverse gear, there are cases where they are classifi ed wrongly.
All these must be submitted by Monday so that by Wednesday, we will be able to deal with defi nite fi gures on what amount of money that should be expecting to receive as unutilised Forex allocation.” He said the committee would ensure that Forex was given to genuine importers to strengthen the Naira against foreign currencies as well as improve employment opportunities among other benefi ts. He stressed that the committee was extending its investigation to operation of the Trade Free Zone Agreement.
“Most of you who have been importing in the name of trade free zone. Under that policy, you know you have to do 30 per cent value addition. But we have identifi ed all the trade free zones that imported fi nished goods and those goods did not even get to the trade free zones. “Th e goods ended up in the various ware houses in Apapa, and when they make the money, because there is no documentation, they have surplus Naira. With the surplus Naira, they in turn buy dollar at any rate, and in the process kill our local manufacturers who really want dollar to be able to do their businesses.” Th e Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff and Marine Transport had been mandated to carry out a holistic investigation into alleged N30 trillion revenue leakages in Forex and the entire import and export value chain between 2006 and 2017.
