National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has written a petition to the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hammed Ali (Rtd) over alleged sharp practices at Clarion Shipping Terminal in Lagos.
The letter signed by the National Chairman, 100% Compliance Team of NAGAFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko, the group accused the bonded terminal of illegally withholding fourteen vehicles belonging to its members.
Part of the letter reads; “We write on behalf of our members whose vehicles were trapped at Clarion Shipping Terminal Ltd since July, 2021 for no fault of theirs and after duty and other charges has been duly paid.”
“Upon our Investigation into the matter, it was revealed that some nineteen (19) containers were allowed to go without paying demand notice (DN) issued to them as well as not following due process. The containers diversion plot were hatched by clarion shipping terminal and the consignee, without the knowledge of the agency. The unpaid assessments were over N8.5 million.”
The group stated that it is baffled that a terminal operator could connive with a consignee to defraud the government of such a huge amount of money.
“Our associations have discovered that an arrangement between clarion and the consignee and that shady business has been going on for a long time. It is obvious from this stand point that Clarion Shipping terminal constitutes an economic risk to the Federal Government,” it said.
The group stressed the need to attain sustainable freight forwarding practice in the country and appealed to the Customs CG to prevail on the management of Clarion Shipping Terminal to release all our 14 vehicles.
Meanwhile, the freight forwarders also advised the Customs boss to carry out a full scale investigation to unravel the mystery about the 19 containers saga.
While expressing optimism that the Customs leadership would act speedily to resolve the issue, the group also listed the “C” numbers of the demand notices.
