*Admits Operating With Revoked BDC Licence
A prosecution witness in the $12 million money laundering trial of SunTrust Bank Ltd Managing Director Halima Buba and her co-defendant Innocent Mbagwu contradicted himself under cross-examination on Friday, admitting that a key claim he made in his testimony that he informed the EFCC his Bureau De Change licence had been revoked was not contained in the written statement he made to the anti-graft agency.
Hassan Dantani, the Managing Director of Ashrab Corporate Forex and BDC Ltd and the third prosecution witness, also admitted to the Federal High Court in Abuja that he operated with a revoked licence, did not disclose the revocation to the people he sent to collect millions of dollars in cash, had no direct dealings or transactions with either defendant, and that neither Buba nor Mbagwu is a signatory to any of his company or personal accounts — testimony that raises fundamental questions about the strength of the EFCC’s case against the two bank executives.
Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the matter to April 30 for continuation of trial.
The central moment of Friday’s proceedings came when defence counsel Johnson Usman SAN confronted Dantani with his own written statement to the EFCC, admitted into evidence as Exhibit D1.
A key issue in the case is whether the BDC used in the $12 million transaction had a valid operating licence at the time. The prosecution’s case rests partly on allegations that the defendants aided high-value cash transactions without proper routing through financial institutions. The status of the BDC’s licence is therefore directly relevant to the legality of the transactions.
Dantani initially maintained under oath that he had informed the EFCC during his investigation statement that his BDC licence had been revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2024.
“In the course of the investigation in the case, you made a statement to EFCC. In making the statement, did you tell EFCC that your BDC licence was revoked?” Usman asked.
“Yes, I did,” Dantani responded.
Usman then called for Exhibit D1 the witness’s own written statement and directed Dantani to pages 48 through 52.
“Look at Page 48 to 52 of Exhibit D1, is that your statement?” Usman asked.
Dantani confirmed it was.
Usman then asked the witness to read aloud to the court the specific portion of his statement where he disclosed the licence revocation.
After what the court record described as “a thorough check” of his entire statement, Dantani conceded: “I did not see it.”
“Therefore, I will be correct to say you did not state so at EFCC based on Exhibit D1, that your licence has been revoked?” Usman pressed.
The witness admitted this was correct directly contradicting his earlier testimony and establishing that his written statement to the EFCC contained no mention of the licence revocation.
The cross-examination further revealed that Dantani’s BDC licence was revoked by the CBN in 2024 — before the March 2025 transactions at the centre of the case took place. Yet Dantani continued to operate, facilitating the movement of nearly $10 million through his companies despite lacking valid authorisation from the regulatory authority.
The witness admitted he did not tell the people he sent to collect US dollars from SunTrust Bank that his BDC licence had been revoked.
“As at the time you sent people to collect USD from SunTrust Bank, did you tell the people that when you go to collect the money, they should tell the person giving the money that your BDC licence had been revoked?” Usman asked.
Dantani admitted he did not, though he sought to explain that he had already reapplied for a licence in 2025 and that the application was still being processed, with his N500 million deposit remaining with the CBN.
However, the fact remains that at the time of the transaction, Dantani’s BDC was operating without a valid licence a detail that was neither disclosed to the EFCC in his statement nor to the SunTrust Bank personnel who released the cash.
His company, Ashrab Corporate Forex and BDC Ltd, also remains operational and has not been wound up at the Corporate Affairs Commission meaning a company whose licence was revoked continues to exist as a legal entity.
In perhaps the most damaging admission for the prosecution’s case, Dantani told the court he had no direct dealings or transactions with either Buba or Mbagwu the two people actually standing trial.
He confirmed that neither defendant is a signatory to any of his company or personal accounts.
He testified that the transactions were carried out through third parties within the BDC network specifically through Suleiman Ciroma, who testified earlier as the first prosecution witness and whom Dantani described as a fellow BDC operator and colleague in the business.
He also confirmed that he never physically visited SunTrust Bank’s offices in either Lagos or Abuja to receive the US dollars — the collections were handled entirely by people he sent.
Dantani’s testimony revealed a complex chain of transactions that raises as many questions about the prosecution’s case as it answers.
He told the court he received $9.947 million on the instructions of Ciroma, with approximately $7 million collected in cash. All the money was paid into his company, Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Ltd a separate entity from his BDC company.
He then transferred the entire sum to Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Ltd, a company owned by businesswoman Aisha Achumugu. He described this transfer as “my personal decision.”
From the transaction, Dantani earned a profit of N9.8 million.
The money trail therefore runs: SunTrust Bank → Dantani’s representatives (collecting cash) → Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Ltd → Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Ltd — with Dantani acting on the instructions of Ciroma, who is a prosecution witness rather than a defendant.
Neither Ciroma nor Dantani is standing trial in connection with the transaction a fact both witnesses confirmed under cross-examination. Yet the two people who are standing trial Buba and Mbagwu apparently had no direct dealings with the witness, are not signatories to his accounts, and were connected to the transaction only through their positions at SunTrust Bank.
The contradictions and admissions exposed during Friday’s cross-examination create several significant problems for the prosecution.
The witness’s credibility has been undermined by the contradiction between his oral testimony and his written statement — he claimed under oath that he told the EFCC about the licence revocation, but his own statement proves he did not.
The admission that the witness had no direct dealings with the defendants weakens the evidentiary chain linking Buba and Mbagwu to the alleged money laundering — if the EFCC’s own witness cannot establish a direct connection to the accused, the prosecution must rely on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of other witnesses to prove the defendants’ involvement.
