News Investigators/ The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s witness, Suleiman Ciroma, on Thursday, told the Federal High Court in Abuja how the sum of $12 million dollars was swapped in SunTrust Bank within 10 days.
Mr. Ciroma stated this while being led in evidence by EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, before Justice Emeka Nwite, in the ongoing trial of Halima Buba, the Managing Director/CEO of the bank.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Buba and her co-defendant, Innocent Mbagwu, the Executive Director/Chief Compliance Officer of SunTrust Bank, are being prosecuted on money laundering offences to the tune of $12 million.
The duo, in a six-count charge, was alleged to have aided high-value cash transactions without routing them through a financial institution.
The offence is said to be contrary to Section 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.
The defendants were, on June 13, arraigned by the anti-graft agency.
They, however, pleaded not guilty to the counts, and admitted to a N100 million bail with one surety, each in like sum.
Upon resumed hearing on Thursday, Ciroma, the 1st prosecution witness (PW-1), told the court that he is a businessman and had worked as a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator before.
“I have a travel agency,” he said.
The witness, who identified Buba, said though he had never met Mbagwu one-on-one before, he said they talked on phone.
The PW-1 tendered in evidence a bundle of documents to support his testimony before the court.
He narrated how the defendants facilitated the release of the $12 million at branches of the bank in Abuja and Lagos State, within 10 days.
He said the transactions commenced on March 10, after he got a call from Aisha Achimugu, an oil magnate, who informed him that she had some forex transactions to carry out with the bank.
The witness told the court that he immediately called Buba, who confirmed that she was aware of the proposed transactions.
The PW-1 told the court that later on the same day, a man named, Iliya called to notify him that he was at a branch of the bank in Abuja for payment of $1 million in cash as a swap to be paid to Achimugu through the account of a company, Oceangate Energy Oil & Gas, domiciled in Zenith Bank.
“I then contacted my friend, Hassan Dantani of Ashrap Ltd, who sent Tijjani Adamu for the collection of the cash payment,” he said.
He told the court that on the same day, Abdulkadir Mohammed collected another $1 million cash payment from a branch of the bank in Abuja, while another $2 million was also received by a man he identified as Kabiru.
Ciroma disclosed that the defendants helped to swap the $12 million cash payments into the account of Achimugu’s company, in tranches, between March 10 and March 20.
“In all the transactions, I made a profit of N15 million,” he told the court.
Asked if he knew the reason behind the alleged illicit transactions, the PW-1 said: “Aisha Achimugu told me that she wanted to buy an oil block and would need dollar inflow into Oceangate Energy Oil & Gas account.”
He told the court that while Buba facilitated the transactions that took place in Abuja, Mbagwu handled the ones that occurred in Lagos.
Mr. Ciroma, through the lawyer, tendered some exhibits, including the printout of WhatsApp conversations he had with Buba in relation to the transactions, as well as a certificate of identification he signed.
Buba’s counsel, Johnson Usman, SAN, and Mbagwu’s lawyer, Mr. M. S. Ibrahim, SAN, though opposed to tendering the evidence as exhibits, they reserved their reasons till the final address stage.
Justice Nwite then admitted and marked the evidence as Exhibit P1.
The judge subsequently adjourned the matter until July 18 for continuation of trial.
