Three Indian-origin businessmen associated with Stallion group of companies were given a clean chit by the Nigerian government after facing court charges and deportation for alleged tax evasion and expatriate quota abuse.
Three brothers of Indian parentage — Sunil, Mahesh and Haresh Vaswani — were finally cleared to continue with their business activities in the oil-rich African country.
The government, through Attorney-General Mohammed Bello Adoke, ordered the customs and immigration services to comply with court orders against their being prosecuted for tax evasion and deportation.
The Vaswanis engage in different businesses which include agribusiness, large-scale rice milling/farming, commodities, food, automobiles, spinning/textiles, polythene packaging, motor vehicle and motor cycle assembly.
They also deal in industrial/household plastics, steel, fertilizer, chemicals, real estate and banking with the name Stallion Group.
The brothers were dragged before a court by the country's anti-corruption police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and deported by the country's immigration last year.
‘Irregular’
But two federal high courts ruled in their favour differently in September and November describing the allegations against the businessmen who now hold British passports as irregular.
The order also nullified the deportation order. However, there was no immediate executive pronouncement on this.
Reacting to the intervention of the Nigerian government, a spokesman for Stallion Group, Tajudeen Olalere, said: “The organisation is highly impressed with the implementation of the judicial decision. As responsible corporate citizens, we reposed our faith in the Nigerian judicial system and duly presented the facts of the matter pursuant to legal due procedure.”
Mr. Olalere praised the disposition of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan towards the rule of law and an independent judiciary which, according to him, resulted in the pronouncement.
