By Correspondent in Abuja.
An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) witness, Mr. Trinity Usman, on Friday told the Federal High Court in Abuja that he received and transferred $3 million into the account of Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, a company owned by Mrs. Aisha Achimugu.
Usman, the second prosecution witness (PW-2), made the disclosure before Justice Emeka Nwite while being led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, in the ongoing trial of Halima Buba, Managing Director of SunTrust Bank, and Innocent Mbagwu, the bank’s Executive Director and Chief Compliance Officer.
The duo are standing trial over alleged $12 million money laundering offences.
According to the six-count charge, the defendants allegedly facilitated high-value cash transactions that were not routed through any financial institution — acts 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 law.
They were arraigned on June 13, 2025, and pleaded not guilty. The court granted them ₦100 million bail each, with one surety in like sum.
At the resumed hearing, Usman, a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator, said he came to court to explain the transactions he had with Achimugu’s company.
He described himself as a businessman involved in agro-allied, oil, and general contracting, operating through various registered companies including Triple A and Tee Service Venture, T.M. Agro Allied Farm, and Triple A and D Oil and Gas Ltd.
“Sometime in April 2025, one Suleiman Ciroma contacted me about a transaction requiring the transfer of $3 million to Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd,” the witness said.
“At that time, I already had the amount in my Triple A and Tee Oil and Gas Nigeria Ltd account. After we reached an agreement, Ciroma delivered the cash to me, and I paid it into Oceangate’s account.”
He told the court that the payment was made in four tranches but he could not recall the exact dates.
When asked if he knew the defendants, Buba and Mbagwu, he replied that he did not.
The witness said his BDC licence had been suspended at the time of the transaction, adding that the cash exchange was carried out through his staff members — Abdulkadir Mohammed and Kabir Haruna.
He further disclosed that he also conducted a naira-to-dollar transaction with Ciroma.
“The naira was paid into Triple A and Tee Service Venture Ltd account, converted into dollars, and the equivalent sent to Oceangate,” he stated.
During cross-examination, counsel to Buba, Johnson Usman, SAN, asked the witness to confirm if Triple A and Tee BDC Ltd was still operational, to which he replied in the affirmative.
“After our licence was suspended, we reapplied to the CBN last year, and we now have an approval-in-principle,” he said.
He also admitted that Ciroma contacted him for the transaction because of his reputation as a BDC operator, and that he never informed the defendants that his BDC licence was suspended.
When asked why he used his oil and gas company’s account, Usman explained that it was because the account already had dollar deposits.
“The decision to use that account was mine,” he said.
Under further cross-examination by M.S. Ibrahim, SAN, counsel to the second defendant, the witness admitted he made a profit from the transaction but never informed the defendants — whom he had never met — that the payment would come from his oil and gas company’s account.
After the cross-examination, Justice Nwite discharged the witness and adjourned the matter to December 10 and 11, 2025, for continuation of trial.
The previous day, Thursday, another EFCC witness, Suleiman Ciroma, owner of Funnacle BDC Ltd, told the court that Achimugu requested the dollar transfer because she could not deposit such cash directly into a bank account.
He testified that Usman and another BDC operator, Hassan Dantani, transferred the dollar equivalent — minus charges — into a designated account provided by Achimugu.
Ciroma confirmed that such transfers in forex dealings could only be made from an account with inflow, not cash deposits, and that Achimugu required the transaction to purchase two oil blocks.
He also stated that he was cautioned before giving his statements to the EFCC and that he never informed the defendants that his BDC licence had expired.
During cross-examination, Ciroma admitted that he had never met Mbagwu in person nor produced any text or WhatsApp exchanges with him before the court.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
