Senate to Publish Names of Companies Involved in N30tn Import-Export Scam

The Senate says it is set to publish names of companies found culpable in the investigation into the alleged N30 trillion revenue scam in the import and export value chain.

Hope Uzodinma, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff and Marine Transport, made this known in an interview with journalists yesterday reports the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said the committee had completed its first batch of the investigation involving over 60 companies and would publish names of companies involved in various infractions leading to loss of government revenue.

He said the committee was releasing the names because it had established culpability against the companies.

Mr. Uzodinma added that the names to be published would contain details of how much of recoverable government revenue was with each of the companies.

The lawmaker stressed that companies found to be involved in the infractions bothering on money laundering and foreign exchange abuses would be referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for prosecution and recovery of the monies.

He added that those bothering on smuggling and import infractions would be referred to the Nigeria Customs Service for recovery of such revenues and possibly blacklisting.

“We got up to the point that even the companies themselves have seen that they are culpable and that is why we want to publish the names and hand them over to EFCC and the Customs.

“The reason for the delay in publishing the names all this while is to establish culpability against the companies.

“Now through various reconciliations, it has been established and we are no longer in doubt, including the companies that are involved, that these things are in existence and that they are culpable.

“We have presented the interim report which detailed how much we have recovered so far and the Senate approved it in plenary, while an extension was given to us to do the final reconciliation.

“We do not want the emphasis to continue to be on how much we have recovered even though it is contained in the report. We want those companies found culpable to go to the government and make payments,” he said.

The chairman further said that “some of the companies have started paying while others have not. None of them has fully paid what we have established against them.

“Since they have started paying, we will now transfer the matter to the Customs, who will now do a recovery schedule with the companies that are willing to pay what is due to government.

“By the time the names are published, Nigerians and the federal government will know which company is owing what and the relevant agencies will go after them to recover the money.’’

The chairman said that the committee would commence the second batch of the investigation after some oversight visits to establish culpability.