Probe of customs led to recovery of N140bn, says senate committee

The probe by the joint senate committees on customs, excise and tariff and marine transport led to the recovery of N140 billion, Hope Uzodinma, a PDP senator from Imo state, has said.

Uzodinma, who is chairman of the committee of customs, said this on Wednesday while presenting an interim report on the investigation of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

The lawmaker highlighted wrong tariff classification, misuse of procedure codes, abuse of diplomatic cargo, falsification of import documentation and undervaluation, among others, as causes of revenue loss.

He said the infractions distort the economic profile of the country and place extensive pressures on Nigeria’s foreign reserves.

“As a result of this exercise, some collection banks have made additional remittances to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the tune of N128 billion and evidence of payment and receipt have been received by the committee,” Uzodinma said.

“From the selected 60 companies, over N12 billion payments have been made to government voluntarily by the companies based on their own internal self-audit after receiving documented evidence of their culpability from our committee.

“Distinguished colleagues, it is instructive to note that despite all payments made so far made, none of the approved collection banks or the selected companies has fully cleared the established liabilities against them.”

He added that the joint committees would produce a more comprehensive report within eight weeks.