EFCC witness contradicts himself in SunTrust MD’s $12m trial

A prosecution witness in the money laundering trial of SunTrust Bank Managing Director Halima Buba and her co-defendant, Innocent Mbagwu, contradicted himself under cross-examination on Friday, admitting that a key claim he had attributed to his earlier statement was absent from the document.

Hassan Dantani, Managing Director of Ashrab Corporate Forex and BDC Ltd and the third prosecution witness (PW-3) for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had initially told the court that he informed the commission in his statement that his Bureau de Change (BDC) licence was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2024 — a detail central to the $12 million transaction at the heart of the case.

However, when Buba’s counsel, Johnson Usman, SAN, directed him to pages 48 to 52 of Exhibit D1 — his admitted statement — and asked him to read out the portion referencing the licence revocation, Dantani conceded: “I did not see it.”

Usman pressed further: “Therefore, I will be correct to say you did not state so at the EFCC based on Exhibit D1, that your licence has been revoked?” The witness admitted this was correct.

The central issue in the trial is whether, at the time the $12 million transaction was executed by Buba and Mbagwu — who served as Executive Director and Chief Compliance Officer of SunTrust Bank respectively — the BDC licence of the company involved had already been revoked by the CBN.

Dantani also confirmed that his company, Ashrab Corporate Forex and BDC Ltd, remains operational and has not been wound up at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). He disclosed that while his licence was revoked, he had reapplied in 2025 and the application was still being processed, adding that his N500 million deposit remained with the CBN.

The witness further told the court that he had no direct dealing or transaction with Buba or Mbagwu, and that neither defendant is a signatory to any of his companies’ accounts. He said the transaction was carried out on the instruction of Suleiman Ciroma, who testified as PW-1, and described Ciroma as a fellow BDC operator and colleague.

Dantani told the court he received $9.947 million, all paid into his company Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Ltd, with $7 million collected in cash. He said the funds were subsequently transferred to Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Ltd, owned by businesswoman Aisha Achumugu, adding that the decision to transfer the money was his personal decision. He said he made a profit of N9.8 million from the transaction.

Under cross-examination by Mbagwu’s counsel, Mustapha Ibrahim, SAN, Dantani confirmed that throughout the transaction he never physically visited SunTrust Bank’s offices in Lagos or Abuja, did not inform those he sent to collect the dollars that his BDC licence had been revoked, and did not disclose the same to Ciroma. He also confirmed that neither he nor Ciroma is standing trial in connection with the transaction.

Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until April 30 for continuation of trial.

Buba and Mbagwu are being prosecuted on six counts of money laundering totalling $12 million, with the EFCC alleging they aided high-value cash transactions without routing them through a financial institution — an offence contrary to Sections 21(a), 2(1), and 9(1)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same Act. Both defendants were arraigned on June 13, pleaded not guilty, and were granted bail of N100 million each with one surety in like sum.