Daily Independent (Lagos)
Alexandra Mede
30 December 2008
Abuja — The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday sealed off the offices of the Vaswani brothers in Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Kano, a week after their office in Lagos was closed.
The EFCC said it took the action because the brothers failed to appear before its officials to answer allegations of fraud against them.
"The brothers, who have been in several controversies relating to financial dealings in Nigeria, have been named in a fresh case of forgery.
"They are alleged to have forged documents with which they defrauded Globe Motors in a deal they were involved in," a source in the EFCC disclosed.
He said a week's grace given to them after their Lagos office was sealed off expired on Monday but they still failed to show up.
EFCC Spokesman, Femi Babafemi, confirmed the closure of the three offices.
In 2004, news about Vaswani brothers broke into the headlines following their deportation by the Olusegun Obasanjo government over allegations of defrauding on import duty.
This time, they allegedly obtained N40 billion from Globe Motors by forging documents.
The petition which triggered the investigation by the EFCC explained that Honda Place approached Globe Motors in 1993 for a sub-dealership to import 45 per cent of Nigeria-bound Honda vehicles from Honda Motors Japan which wanted a sole dealer in Nigeria.
The petition, signed by Globe Motors' lawyer, Ifeanyi Maduabuchi, alleged that "(Globe Motors) agreed and went ahead to clear the bulk of over 50 per cent of the said backlog and Honda Place was made a sole dealer in 1993.
"Upon being made the sole dealer, Honda Place reneged from the original agreement of allowing our client (Globe Motors) to import 45 per cent of the Honda vehicles earmarked for Nigeria and took over same in addition to their 55 per cent.
"In their quest to render the representation they made to (Globe Motors) ineffective, Suril Vaswani, Mahesh Vaswani, Haresh Vaswani, Rita Vaswani, Gopal Kritishina and other principal agents of Honda Place alleged that the Honda dealership had been given to another company, THP Limited, and that Honda Place was incapable of giving Globe Motors 45 per cent.
"In their bid to convince our client (Globe Motors) they presented a forged dealership agreement between THP Limited and Honda Japan.
"(Globe Motors) discovered that the date on the dealership agreement was altered by Suril Vaswani and other Directors earlier on mentioned herein to suit their purpose of defrauding (Globe Motors).
"Incidentally, Suril Vaswani who signed the agreement between (Globe Motors) and Honda Place also signed the one between Honda Japan and THP Limited, which is an abbreviation of The Honda Place.
"It may interest you to know that THP Limited was not registered in the Corporate Affairs Commission when (Globe Motors) was fraudulently tricked to sign the sub-dealership agreement."
The petition also alleged that Honda Place has benefitted by selling its 55 per cent and Globe Motors 45 per cent of imported Honda vehicles, claiming N40 billion that ought to accrue to Globe Motors.
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