BMW Scandal: Coscharis gave N112m kickback to aviation minister

According to new reports by Sahara
Reporters, the car company that sold
the two BMW armored cars to NCAA,
gave N112million to aviation minister
Stella Oduah as kickbacks. (Kickback is
a form of negotiated bribery in which a
commission is paid to the bribe-taker
for services rendered)

From Sahara Reporters

Even as the minister of aviation
began a new spin today that the
BMW armored cars purchased by
the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA) for her use were
done on "hire-purchase",
SaharaReporters has unearthed
new details about the $1.6 million
spent by the Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority to purchase the
armored BMW cars for Nigeria's
Aviation Minister Stella Oduah.

A highly reliable source has told
SaharaReporters that the shady
deal for the car was done entirely
between Coscharis Motors
Limited, a dealership from which
the cars were purchased, one of
Ms. Oduah’s private firms based
in Abuja, and First Bank of
Nigeria.
“The NCAA was not even aware of
the deal until the minister told
them to sign that they had
received two BMW cars,” said our
source.

After inking the deal, Coscharis
Motors, sellers of the highly
inflated automobiles, reportedly
gave the Aviation Minister more
than N112 million as kickbacks.
Our source added that Cosmas
Maduka, who owns Coscharis
Motors, pocked N60 million for
each of the two BMW cars.
An official at the NCAA corroborated the
information that the agency was largely kept in the dark about the transaction.

“We were never privy to the transaction and had not seen the cars even though our head of transport was made to sign the delivery note,” said the source. The
agency is under the Ministry of Aviation. The source added that the agency has still not seen the cars even after the scandal escalated.

SaharaReporters was first to break the news that Ms. Oduah compelled a cash-strapped NCAA to pay for two
extravagantly priced bullet-proof BMWs for her personal use. After initially denying our reports, the minister’s spokesman, Joe Obi, admitted that the transaction transpired. Mr. Obi alleged that the purchase was justified because of unspecified threats to the minister’s
life. Neither Mr. Obi nor the minister has provided proof of any threats to Ms.Oduah. The minister has not addressed why the NCAA paid a price tag that auto dealers in the US and the UK described as a rip-off. US dealers said that each of the BMW cars should cost no more than $$167,000.

Last week, an official of the NCAA, Fola Akinkuotu, spoke to the media and defended the purchase of the cars. Mr.Akinkuotu said the cars were for the ministry’s protocol pool for use in transporting foreign aviation dignitaries when they visit Nigeria. His explanation conflicted with the original statement by the minister’s spokesman, Mr. Obi. A
source at the NCAA disclosed that Mr.Akinkuotu felt tricked into facing the media on the scandal. “He had been told he would only appear beside the embattled minister, who was supposed to speak. Instead, he was asked to speak,” said the source.
Meanwhile, a source at the Presidency said President Goodluck Jonathan was unfazed about the fraud perpetrated by Ms. Stella Oduah, his Aviation Minister.
Ms. Oduah and the late former National Security Advisor, General Owoye Azazi,had played significant roles in raising and disbursing money to rig the 2011 presidential elections for Mr. Jonathan.
Mr. Jonathan will depart Abuja
tomorrow on a weeklong pilgrimage to
Israel.
However, SaharaReporters learnt that
several ministers and diplomats have
registered their displeasure at Mr.
Jonathan’s continued retention of Ms.
Oduah on his cabinet.