By Odunewu Segun
The Senate on Friday, August 4 directed the Police to arrest chief executives of 30 firms, including Glo Mobile, Dana Group and Crown Flour Mills for failing to appear before its committee probing national revenue loss.
The companies are alleged to have been involved in the N30 trillion-revenue believed to have been lost by the country in its maritime sector.
The other companies are British American Tobacco, CCECC, Dana Group, Olam Int. Ltd., Hong Xing Steel Co. Ltd., Visafone, African Wire, Star Comments and Allied Ltd. and Aarti Steel Nig. Ltd.
Others are Abyem-Diva Int. Ltd., Gagasel Int., Friesland Capina, Etco Nig., Edic Chemicals and Allied Distributors, De United Foods, Don Climax Group, Skill G Nig. Ltd., Premium Seafood and La Rauf Nig. Ltd.
Also involved are Standard Metallurgical Co. Ltd., Kam Industries, IBG Investment Ltd., Orazulike Trading Co. Ltd., Popular Foods Ltd., A-Kelnal Integrated & Logistics Services, African Industries, African Tiles & Ceramics and ZTE Nigeria.
The Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff and Marine Transport, handling the investigation had invited 63 firms accused of complicity in the scam but only 33 honoured the invitation.
The order to arrest the companies’ officials was announced by Chairman of the committee, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, at the committee’s meeting on Friday in Abuja.
The order, National Daily gathered, is the culmination of the crisis between Senator Hope Uzodinma, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs and the Managing Diector of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman.
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Few days ago, the NPA boss had accused the Senator of using his committee for a vendetta against her because of her move to probe the activities of the Calabar Channel Management (CCM), a company allegedly own by Senator Hope Uzodinman.
She also said her refusal to honour a $21 million invoice from the company was also responsible.
It will be recalled that few weeks, Senator Hope Uzodinma lashed out at the NPA management, accusing it of shunning his committee’s invitation over investigation of rice smuggling and of concealing information about ships that berthed at the nation’s seaports.
When Bala Usman and her team eventually appeared his Customs Committee, he berated her for not honouring two earlier invitations of the committee and handed her a four-day ultimatum to “furnish the panel with details” of the missing vessels”.
The Senate had mandated the joint committee to carry out extensive investigation into alleged N30 trillion revenue leakages in the import and export value chain between 2006 and 2017.