http://odili.net/news/source/2009/apr/21/214.html
FG deports Vaswani Brothers again
•Stallion Group: Action illegal
From Ali M. Ali and Juliana Taiwo in Abuja, 04.21.2009

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The deportation of the Vaswani brothers - Mahesh, Haresh and Sunil - for alleged criminal conspiracy and economic fraud for a second time is real after all.

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President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has approved the deportation and Interior Minister Godwin Abbe has signed the order on behalf of the President.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Farida Waziri, who announced the deportation at a news conference in Abuja yesterday, said they were deported on the recommendation of the commission.

She said the Vaswani brothers, through their company, Stallion Group, made false entries on rice importation and evaded the payment of N2.5 billion duty to government.

Waziri also said directors of the company and some Customs officers involved in the act would be prosecuted for the offences.

Waziri said investigation showed that papers for the rice importation were processed at the Port Harcourt port days before the estimated departure time of the vessels from Thailand or estimated time of arrival of the vessels in Nigeria.

Waziri said based on the suspects’ statements and findings, the commission established that a total of nine vessels were imported into the country, adding that the first three ships - MV Golden, MV Luckyfield and MV Goldmar - were involved in evasion of duty through manipulation of documents.

She said: “In the case of MV Golden, the vessel was still loading in Thailand as at 30/8/2008 and expected to depart on 21/9/2008 with her estimated time of arrival in Lagos and Port Harcourt given as 7/10/2008 and 30/10/2008 respectively. Notwithstanding the dates given above, all the accompanying documents including cargo manifest, ship’s inward report, cargo stowage plan, bill of laden, crew list, port of call list and summary of discrepancies were stamped and signed by the officer in-charge, Report seat of the Nigerian Customs Service, Area 1, Port Harcourt on 26th September, 2008.  Apparently, the documents were already signed when the vessel was still in Thailand.

“That in the case of MV Luckyfield, the vessel was expected to depart Thailand on  20/9/2008 with her estimated time of arrival in Lagos and Port Harcourt given as 31/9/2008 and 25/10/2008 respectively. In this case, all the accompanying documents were stamped and signed on the 26th September, 2008, six (6) days after its expected time of departure from Thailand and when the vessel was still on the high seas before arriving Nigerian territorial waters. The vessel subsequently arrived on 9th of November 2008 after the expiration of the waiver period (7th May to 31st October 2008).

“That in the case of MV Goldmar, the vessel was still loading in Thailand on 30/7/2008 with her estimated time of arrival in Lagos and Port Harcourt given as 29/9/2008 and 12/10/2008 respectively. The vessel arrived on the 8th of November 2008 after the expiration of the waiver period (i.e 7th May-31st October 2008). Curiously, all the accompanying documents were stamped and signed on 26th September, 2008 by the officer in charge, Report Seat of Customs, Area 1, Port Harcourt, two weeks before estimated time of arrival of the vessel in Port Harcourt.

“That the inference from the example of the three vessels given above is that the papers were processed at the Port Harcourt port days before the estimated time of departure from Thailand or the estimated time of arrival of the vessels in Nigeria.

“That 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 31st October, 2008.”

Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Chukwurah Udeh, who was also at the news conference, explained that upon receipt of approval of the Presidency for deportation, the Minister of Interior signed the deportation order which Immigration exercised.

According to him, to ensure that the Vaswanis are held outside the country, the NIS had informed all entry points of the new development to ascertain that no disguise goes undetected.

He said that 21 top officials of the Stallion Group mostly Indians, Koreans and Filipinos, were repatriated on Saturday, 18th April 2009 aboard Qatar Airline, while seven others were sent back to their countries yesterday.

Udeh added that the 28 top officials are banned from re-entry into Nigeria for the next five years.

The bank accounts of the brothers have also been frozen as a consequence of several allegations of tax evasion and other illegal financial deals levelled against them by the EFCC, while the companies owned by the brothers are being investigated for tax evasion and other sundry allegations.

This is the second time the Vaswani brothers will be deported.

Mahesh, Haresh and Sunil were deported in 2003 by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration for similar offences but allowed to return in 2007 by President Yar’Adua.

Meanwhile, the management and staff of Stallion Group have said they received the news of the deportation of their directors along with 28 other expatriate employees with shock and disbelief, adding that the action is in total disregard of court orders and due process.

A statement by the management of Stallion Group yesterday said the purported action of government was bound to raise several questions on the adherence to its due process mantra.

According to the statement signed by one of the senior Nigerian executive directors of the group, Tajudeen Olalere, “nobody expected such a harsh action by a due process government when the matter is being heard by a competent court of law”.

The company accused EFCC of severally violating the order given upon an exparte motion dated 24th day of March, 2009, granted by Justice Dan Abutu thus: “the leave is hereby granted to the Applicants (Vaswani Brothers, Stallion Group) … that the leave herein before granted shall operate as a stay of all actions or matters relating to or connected with the complaint of the applicants herein particularly the investigation of the 1st Applicant in connection with the goods imported by the 1st applicant to Nigeria on board vessels Luckyfield, Golden and Goldmar, mentioned in paragraph 11 of the affidavit in support of the motion pending the determination of the motion on notice.”

Olalere said: “We are just small industrialists and have provided bank guarantees as demanded by Customs pending the determination in dispute. We have no option but to leave these matters in the hands of the court, in the belief that the cause of justice will be served and the government will, upon the outcome of the due process reverse the unfortunate line of action it has taken.

“We have full confidence in the Federal Government and the judicial process in the country. And that is the reason our group has invested heavily in many industries in the country. We have a clean record for the past 40 years of business operations in Nigeria and other countries. And till date no single allegation of any wrongdoing has ever been proven.”

They will be back in Nigeria next week.

Hopefully they stay out!

these guys no their way. phuck. they are comedians, the immigration service and FG>

Why do people copy, paste, link and then run off with no opinion? Jeez. Some people are just weird.